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FISH AND GAME 
LAWS 



MASSACHUSETTS 
1908 



Commissioners 

GEORGE W. FIELD JOHN W. DELANO 
GEORGE H. GARFIELD 



Fish and Game Iiaws 



of 
MASSACHUSETTS. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Commissioners on Fisheries and Game. 



COMMISSIONERS : 

GEORGE W. FIELD, Chairman, 

JOHN W. DELANO, Supt. of Hatcheries, 

GEORGE H GARFIELD. 

Office, Room 158, State House, Boston. 



BOSTON : 

Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 

18 Post Office Square. 

190S. 






Approved by 
The State Board op Publication. 



D. OF 0. 

SFP 22 1908 



CONTENTS 



90 

Fish Laws. 
Authority of Commissioners on Fisheries and 
Game: — 
What constitute fisheries laws, 
Appointment of fish and game commissioners 
Authority to enforce laws relative to obstruc 
tions to migratory fish, .... 
Authority to enforce laws relative to fish 

birds and mammals, 
May require display for inspection, 
Can arrest without warrant, 
Duties with respect to forest and other fires, 
Right of search, .... 

To regulate brook fishing, 
Commissioners' authority to take fish, . 
Fishing permits, .... 

Investigations, ..... 
Protection of material used in investigations, 
Sawdust pollution, .... 



PAGE 

5 



Fishways: — 

Authority of commissioners, 
Notification of dam owners, 
Liability of owners, 
Commissioners can build, etc., 
Settlement of damages, 
Passage over private land, . 



Inspection of Fish: — 

Powers and duties of commissioners, . . 13 

Publication of returns of inspection of fish, . 14 



Fisheries in Great Ponds: — 
Public rights in great ponds, 
Commissioners' control of ponds, 
Stocking great ponds with food fish, 
Mill Pond, Yarmouth, 



CONTENTS. 



Fisheries in Great Ponds {.concluded): — 


PAGE 


Measurement of ponds. 


16 


Private ownership of ponds, 


16 


Private ownership of ponds bounded in pari 




by public lands, .... 


16 


Prohibited apparatus for pond fishing, . 


17 


Control of Fisheries by Riparian Proprie- 




tors: — 




For cultivation of fish, 


17 


When fish are private property, . 




17 


Penalty for unauthorized fishing, 




18 


Definition of navigable stream, 




18 


Bounds can be fixed, . 




18 


Governor can limit fishing, . 




18 


Proprietor's rights, 




19 



Shad, Herring and Alewives: — 

Prohibits taking herring in certain waters by 

means of torches or other light 
Rights of towns and cities, . 
Personal rights, . 
Alewife fishery, Sandwich, . 
Hummock Pond, Nantucket, 
Fishing on Connecticut River, 
Fishing on Merrimac River, 
Regulation of nets, etc., 
Methods and times of fishing, 
Rights of lessees, 
Authority of officers on Palmer's River 



19 
20 
20 
20 
21 
22 
22 
22 
22 
23 

2:; 



Regulation of Fishing near Fishways and 

with Nets: — 

On Connecticut River, .... 24 

On Merrimac River, ..... 24 

Net fishing season, Merrimac, ... 24 
Gill net fishing prohibited in Connecticut and 

Merrimac rivers, ..... 24 

Size of seine mesh, ..... 25 

When penalties do not apply, ... 25 

Regulations on Connecticut River, . . 25 



CONTENTS. 



Regulation of Fishing near Fishways and 

with Nets (concluded) : — page 

Seining restrictions, ..... 26 

Restrictions, North River, .... 26 

Town and city fish wardens, ... 26 

Liability for neglect to appoint wardens, . 27 



Bluefish: — 

In Wellfleet Bay, 



27 



Salmon and Trout: — 
Apparatus for salmon, 
Salmon season, etc., .... 
Salmon pots, ..... 
Screens on the Merrimac, 
Liability for minors, .... 
Closed season on trout, land-locked salmon 

and lake trout, .... 

Sale of wild trout, salmon, etc., prohibited 
Illegal size of trout, .... 
Public waters only to be stocked, 
Prohibition of the sale of all trout except those 

artificially reared, .... 
Sale of artificially reared trout, 



Pickerel: — 

Legal size, .... 

Apparatus of capture, 

In Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester, 



31 
31 
32 



Black Bass: — 

Black bass protection repealed, 
Size, .... 



Smelts: — 

Close season, 
Apparatus allowed, 
Exceptions in certain counties, 
Prohibited apparatus, 
What constitutes evidence, . 
Penalties, .... 
Right of search, 



33 
33 
33 

33 
34 

34 
34 



CONTENTS. 



Forfeiture of Fish, Boats, etc.: — 
Forfeiture of boats and apparatus, 
Forfeiture of fish and apparatus, . 
Duty of superintendents, clerks and others, 

Pike Perch: — 

Transportation and sale of pike perch caught 
in certain waters, ..... 



PAGE 

35 
35 
35 



36 



Shiners and Sturgeon: — 

Taking shiners for bait, . 

Taking shiners for bait in Merrimac and Con- 
necticut rivers, . 
Sturgeon nets, ...... 



37 



Eels, Clams, Quahaugs and Scallops: — 

Close season for scallops, .... 38 

Protection of seed scallops, 38 

City and town jurisdiction, .... 39 

Quahaugs in Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet, 39 

Cultivation of shellfish, .... 41 

Protection of shellfish in town of Dartmouth, . 42 



Lobsters, Tautog and Other Fish: — 
Egg lobsters, ..... 
Town officers to enforce preceding section 
Legal length of lobsters, 
Mutilation unlawful, . 
Detail of district police, 
Right of search, 
Residence, 

Commissioners' rights, 
Penalty, 
Non-residential prohibition upon taking 

lobsters and fish in Fairhaven, New Bedford, 

Dartmouth and Westport, 
Territorial definition, . 
Penalty, ..... 
Transportation from Provincetown 
Limitation in Buzzard's Bay, 
Purchase of egg-bearing lobsters, . 



46 
46 

46 
47 
47 
48 



CONTENTS. 



vn 



Oysters and Other Shellfish: — 
Oysters, . • • • • 

Town officials may grant permits, 
Penalties and permits, 
Rights of Indians and fishermen, . 
Oyster licenses, . 
Limits of areas, . 
Public hearings, 
Who can have a license, 
Rights of licensee, 
Revocation of license, 
Prohibition of night fishing, 
Penalties, . 
Trespass forbidden, 
Pollution, . 
Taking from contaminated waters of 

and quahaugs for bait, 
Penalties, . 
Shellfish for bait, 
Protection of shellfish, Edgartown, 



clams 



Regulation of Fish Weirs, Nets, Purse and 
Sweep Seines: — 
Authority to construct, 

Penalty for injury 

Penalty for non-authorized construction, 
Statistical returns of fishing, 
Close time for net fishing, . 
Traps prohibited in Buzzard's Bay, 
Nets prohibited in Buzzard's Bay, 
Penalties, ..•••• 
When nets are nuisances, 
Fishing rights in Buzzard's Bay, . 
Limits of Buzzard's Bay, 
Restrictions, Edgartown and Cottage City, 
Restrictions, Barnstable and Mashpee, . 
Restrictions, Pleasant Bay, Orleans, 
Restrictions, Westport, 
Fish wardens, Westport, 
Fish wardens, Edgartown, . 
Regarding eel bait, Edgartown, . 



CONTENTS. 



General Provisions: — 

Penalty for robbing pots, trawls, etc., . 

Apparatus for fresh-water fishing, 

For the better protection of fish, . 

Shellfish constables, .... 

Time of prosecutions, 

Duties of municipal officers, 

Division of fines under the laws relating to 

fisheries, birds, animals and game, 
Special statutes not repealed, 
Reward for killing seals abolished, 
Kelp and seaweed, .... 



PAGE 

63 
63 
64 
64 
64 
65 

65 
65 



Game Laws. 
For the Preservation of Certain Birds and 
Animals: — 

Unnaturalized, foreign-born persons must pro- 
cure license to hunt, .... 

Non-resident hunters must procure licenses 
to hunt, ...... 

Registration of resident hunters, . 

Lord's Day close season, 

Ruffed grouse, woodcock and quail, 

Quail on Nantucket protected, 

Loons and eagles protected, 

Heath hen, ..... 

Reservation on Martha's Vineyard for birds. 

Sale of prairie chickens, 

Wood or summer duck, 

Ducks and teal, .... 

Wild ducks and geese in Dukes County, . 

Pursuit and shooting of wild fowl in certain 
waters of Edgartown, . 

Hunting wild ducks or geese in Dukes County, 

Use of live ducks for decoys prohibited in Nan- 
tucket, ....... 

Shore, marsh and beach birds, upland plover, 
wild pigeons, gulls and terns, . 

Protection of herons and bitterns, 

Shore and marsh birds can be sold only during 
open season, ...... 



67 

6S 
70 

72 
72 
74 
74 
75 
75 
77 
77 
78 
79 

79 
80 

80 

81 
81 

81 



CONTENTS. 



made 



For the Preservation op Certain Birds and 

Animals {concluded) : — 
Certain birds shall not be killed, captured 

etc., or eggs or nest disturbed, 
Bodies or feathers of certain birds, 
Special game laws for Bristol County 

uniform with General Laws, 
Close season on gray squirrels, 
Squirrels, hares and rabbits, 
Use of traps, snares, ferrets, power boats, etc. 

illegal, . 
Snaring on own land, . 
Shooting, Plymouth Bay, 
Trespass, . 
Ownership of game, 
Pheasants, 
Deer, 

Protection of deer from dogs, 
Recovery for damages caused by wild deer 
Authority of commissioners relative to birds 

and animals, ..... 
Disposal of fines, .... 

Game not to be transported out of State 
Introduction of foxes or raccoons into Dukes 

County prohibited, .... 
English sparrows to be killed, 
Bounty for killing wild cat or Canada iynx 



List of Ponds stocked 1905-1907 



Game — when not to be killed 



82 
83 

84 
84 
84 

85 
SG 
86 
87 
87 
87 
88 
89 
89 

00 
90 
91 

91 
92 
92 

95 

99 






FISH AND GAME LAWS 

OP 

MASSACHUSETTS, 
1908. 



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FISH LAWS. 

Revised Laws, Chap. 91. 

AUTHORITY OF COMMISSIONERS ON 
FISHERIES AND GAME, ETC. 
What constitute fisheries laws. 

Section 1. All laws relative to the culture, 
preservation, capture or passage of fish shall be 
known as the laws relative to fisheries. 

Appointment of fish and game commissioners. 

Section 2. There shall be a board of commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game consisting of three 
persons who shall be appointed by the governor, 
with the advice and consent of the council, for 
the term of five years from the time of their 
appointments and who shall be removable at the 
pleasure of the governor. 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1905, CHAP. 407. 

Authority to remove obstructions to migratory fish. 
Section 3. The commissioners are em- 
powered to appoint deputies, and each of the 
commissioners, the deputies of the commis- 
sioners or members of the district police may 
enforce the laws regulating fisheries; and may 
seize and remove, summarily if need be, all 
illegal obstructions to the passage of migratory 
fish except dams, mills or machinery, at the 
expense of the persons using or maintaining the 
same. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 417. 

Authority of the commissioners and their deputies 
to enforce laws. 

Section 1. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game and their salaried deputies shall have 
and exercise throughout the commonwealth for 
the enforcement of the laws relating to fish, 



FISH LAWS. 



birds and mammals, all the powers of constables, 
except the service of civil process, and of police- 
men and watchmen. The said salaried deputies 
when on duty shall wear, and shall display as a 
token of authority, a metallic badge bearing the 
seal of the commonwealth and the words "Dep- 
uty Fish and Game Commissioner." 

Section 2. Any person not being a salaried 
deputy of said commission on fisheries and game 
who shall possess or wear the above described 
badge shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars 
for every such offence. 

Section 3. The commissioners on fisheries and 
game, with the approval of the governor, may in 
writing authorize any of their salaried deputies 
to have in possession and carry a revolver, club, 
billy, handcuffs and twisters, or such other 
weapon or article as may be required in the per- 
formance of their official duty. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 255. 
May require display for inspection. 

A commissioner on fisheries and game or any 
duly authorized deputy commissioner, receiving 
a salary from the commonwealth, may request 
of any person whom said commissioner or deputy 
commissioner reasonably believes to be engaged 
in the taking, killing, hunting or snaring of fish, 
birds or animals, contrary to law, that such per- 
son shall forthwith display for the inspection of 
such commissioner or deputy commissioner, any 
and all fish, birds and animals then in his pos- 
session; and upon refusal to comply with such 
request said commissioner or duly authorized 
deputy commissioner may arrest without warrant 
the person so refusing. 

Can arrest without warrant. 

Section 4. The commissioners and their 
deputies, members of the district police and all 
officers qualified to serve criminal process may 



FISH LAWS. 



arrest without warrant any person whom they 
find violating any of the fish or game laws, except 
that persons engaged in the business of regularly 
dealing in the buying and selling of game as an 
article of commerce shall not be so arrested for 
having in possession or selling game at their usual 
places of business. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 299. 
Duties with respect to forest and other fires. 

The commissioners on fisheries and game and 
their duly authorized deputies may arrest with- 
out a warrant any person found in the act of 
unlawfully setting a fire. Said commissioners 
and their deputies may require assistance accord- 
ing to the provisions of section twenty of chapter 
thirty-two of the Revised Laws, and they shall 
take precautions to prevent the progress of forest 
fires, or the improper kindling thereof, and upon 
the discovery of any such fire shall immediately 
summon the necessary assistance, and notify the 
forest fireward of the town. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 367. 
The right of search. 

Section 1 . Any commissioner on fisheries and 
game, deputy commissioner on fisheries and 
game, member of the district police, or officer 
qualified to serve criminal process, may, with a 
warrant, search any boat, car, box, locker, crate 
or package, and any building, where he has 
reason to believe any game or fish taken or held 
in violation of law is to be found, and may seize 
any game or fish so taken or held, and any game 
or fish so taken or held shall be forfeited: pro- 
vided, however, that this section shall not author- 
ize entering a dwelling house, or apply to game or 
fish which is passing through this Commonwealth 
under authority of the laws of the United States. 

Section 2. A court or justice authorized to 
issue warrants in criminal cases shall, upon com- 



FISH LA WS. 



plaint under oath that the complainant believes 
that any game or fish unlawfully taken or held is 
concealed in a particular place, other than a 
dwelling house, if satisfied that there is reason- 
able cause for such belief, issue a warrant to 
search therefor. The search warrant shall desig- 
nate and describe the place to be searched and the 
articles for which search is to be made, and shall 
be directed to any officer named in section one of 
this act, commanding him to search the place 
where the game or fish for which he is required 
to search is believed to be concealed, and to seize 
such game or fish. 

To regulate brook fishing. 

Section 5. Tf the owner of land within which 
a brook is wholly or partly situated agrees that 
such brook or part thereof shall be open to the 
public after the expiration of three years as here- 
inafter provided, the commissioners may, upon 
petition of thirty or more inhabitants of a city or 
town within which such brook is wholly or partly 
situated, including such owner, or upon petition 
of the mayor and aldermen of such city or the 
selectmen of such town and such owner, cause 
such brook to be stocked with food fish; and 
shall then make reasonable regulations, which 
shall be in force for a period of not more than 
three years, relative to fishing in such brook, may 
affix penalties of not more than twenty dollars 
for each violation thereof and shall cause such 
regulations to be enforced. There shall be al- 
lowed and paid annually from the treasury of the 
commonwealth an amount not exceeding five 
hundred dollars to carry out the provisions of 
this section. 

Commissioners' authority to take fish. 

Section 6. The commissioners may take fish 
or cause them to be taken at any time or in any 
manner for purposes coimected with fish culture 
or scientific observation. 



FISH LAWS. 



AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1902, CHAP. 164. 

Fishing permits. 

Section 7. The board of commissioners on 
fisheries and game may issue permits for the 
taking of sand eels in the tidal waters of the Merri- 
mac and Ipswich rivers and Plum Island sound, 
and their tributaries. Said permits -shall be 
issued without any fee therefor, and shall be 
revocable at the discretion of the commissioners . 

Acts of 1902, Chap. 178. 
Investigations . 

The authority of the commissioners on fisheries 
and game shall extend to the investigation of 
questions relating to fish and fisheries, or to game, 
and they may from time to time, personally or by 
assistants, institute and conduct inquiries per- 
taining to such questions. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 327. 

The protection of property and material used by 
the commissioners on fisheries and game in 
making scientific investigations. 
Whoever wilfully and without right enters in or 
upon any building or other structure or any area 
of land or water set apart and used by or under 
authority of the commissioners on fisheries and 
game for conducting scientific experiments or in- 
vestigations after said commissioners have caused 
printed notices of such occupation and use and 
the purposes thereof to be placed in a conspicuous 
position adjacent to any such areas of land or 
water or upon any such building or other struc- 
ture, and any person who wilfully and maliciously 
injures or defaces any such building or other 
structure or any notice posted as aforesaid, or 
injures or destroys any property used in such ex- 
periments or investigations, or otherwise inter- 
feres therewith, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than six months or by a fine 



10 FISH LAWS. 



of not more than two hundred dollars. And 
said commissioners and their deputies are hereby 
authorized to arrest without warrant any person 
found violating the provisions of this act. 

Section 8, Revised Laws, as amended by Acts of 1906, 

Chap. 356. 
Sawdust pollution. 

Section 1. If the commissioners determine 
that the fish of any brook or stream in this com- 
monwealth are of sufficient value to warrant the 
prohibition or regulation of the discharge therein 
of sawdust from sawmills, and that the discharge 
of sawdust from any particular sawmill materi- 
ally injures such fish, they may, by an order in 
writing to the owner or tenant of such sawmill, 
prohibit or regulate the discharge of sawdust 
therefrom into such brook or stream. Such 
order may be revoked or modified by them at any 
time. Before any such order is made said com- 
missioners shall, after reasonable notice to all 
parties in interest, give a public hearing in the 
county where the sawmill to be affected by the 
order is located, at which hearing any citizen 
shall have the right to be heard on the questions 
to be determined by the commissioners. Upon 
petition of any party aggrieved by such order, 
filed within six months after the date thereof, the 
superior court, sitting in equity, may, after such 
notice as it may deem sufficient, hear all in- 
terested parties and annul, alter or affirm said 
order. Whoever, having been so notified, dis- 
charges sawdust or suffers or permits it to be dis- 
charged from a sawmill under his control into a 
brook or stream in violation of the order of said 
commissioners, or of said court, if an appeal is 
taken, shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than twenty-five dollars. 

Section 2. Any person aggrieved by an order 
made by the commissioners on fisheries and 
game relative to the discharge of sawdust into 



FISH LAWS. 11 



streams, under the provisions of section eight of 
said chapter ninety-one, and in force at the date 
of the passage of this act, shall be entitled, upon 
application to the commissioners on fisheries and 
game, to a public hearing and petition to the 
superior court, as provided in section one hereof. 
Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its 
passage. 

As amended by Acts op 1904, Chap. 365. 
FISHWAYS. 
Authority of commissioners to examine, etc. 

Section 9. The commissioners may examine 
all dams upon rivers where the law requires fish- 
ways to be maintained, or where in their judg- 
ment fishways are needed, and they shall deter- 
mine whether the fishways, if any, are suitable 
and sufficient for the passage of the fish in such 
rivers, or whether in their judgment a fishway is 
needed for the passage of fish over any dam; 
and shall prescribe by an order in writing what 
changes or repairs, if any, shall be made therein, 
and where, how and when a new fishway must be 
built, and at what times the same shall be kept 
open, and shall give notice to the owners of the 
dams accordingly. The supreme judicial court, 
or the superior court, shall, upon the petition of 
the commissioners, have jurisdiction in equity or 
otherwise to enforce any order made in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this section, and to 
restrain any violation of such order. 

Notification of dam owners. 

Section 10. Such owners shall be notified by 
serving upon them a copy of the order; and a cer- 
tificate of the commissioners that service has 
been so made shall be deemed sufficient proof 
thereof. 



12 FISH LAWS. 



Liability of owners. 

Section 11. Any owner of such a dam who 
refuses or neglects to keep open or maintain a 
fishway at the times prescribed by the commis- 
sioners shall forfeit fifty dollars for each day of 
such refusal or neglect. 

Commissioners can build, etc. 

Section 12. If, in the opinion of the commis- 
sioners, a passage for edible fish should be pro- 
vided, or if any one of the commissioners finds 
that there is no fishway or an insufficient fishway 
in or around a dam where a fishway is required by 
law to be maintained, any one of the commis- 
sioners may, in his discretion, enter with work- 
men and materials upon the premises of the 
person required to maintain a fishway there and 
may, at the expense of the commonwealth, if in 
the opinion of the commissioners the person 
required by law to construct or maintain such 
fishway is not able to afford such expense, im- 
prove an existing fishway, or cause one to be 
constructed if none exists, and may, if necessary, 
take the land of any other person who is not 
obliged by law to maintain said fishway; and if 
a fishway has been constructed in accordance 
with the provisions of this section, the commis- 
sioners shall not require the owner of the dam 
to alter such fishway within five years after the 
completion thereof. 

Settlement of damages. 

Section 13. All damages which are caused 
by taking land as provided in the preceding sec- 
tion,. shall, upon the application of either party, 
be estimated in the same manner as land which 
has been taken for a highway and shall be paid by 
the commonwealth. Said expense shall be a 
charge against the person who is required by law 
to construct and maintain such fishway and shall 



FISH LAWS. 13 



be recovered in an action of contract in the name 
of the commonwealth, with costs and with 
interest at the rate of twelve per cent per annum. 

Passage over private land. 

Section 14. Each of the commissioners may, 
in the performance of his duties, enter upon and 
pass through or over private property. 

Acts of 1902, Chap. 138. 
INSPECTION OF FISH. 
Powers and duties of commissioners. 

Section 1. The office of inspector general of 
fish is hereby abolished. 

Section 2. The powers and duties heretofore 
conferred and imposed upon the inspector gen- 
eral of fish are hereby conferred and imposed 
upon the board of commissioners on fisheries and 
game. 

Section 3. Said board may appoint in every 
town in which fish is packed for export, inspect- 
ors of fish, who shall be sworn before them or 
before a justice of the peace, and shall give bond 
to them with sufficient sureties, and be removable 
at the discretion of said board. Each inspector 
shall once in six months make the returns to said 
board necessary to carry into effect the pro- 
visions of chapter fifty-six of the Revised Laws. 

Section 4. The inspectors of fish shall have 
the powers and perform the duties heretofore 
conferred and imposed upon the deputy in- 
spectors of fish, but shall pay to the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game the proportion of 
fees formerly paid to the inspector general of fish. 
Said commissioners shall pay the fees received 
from the inspectors into the treasury of the com- 
monwealth on the first Monday of January and 
the first Monday of July in each year, and shall 
include a brief statement of the work of fish 



14 FISH LAWS. 



inspection and of the fees received therefor, in 
their annual report. 

Section 5. Sections three and four of chapter 
fifty-six of the Revised Laws are hereby repealed. 

Acts op 1903, Chap. 196. 
Publication of returns of inspection of fish. 

Section 1. Section five of chapter fifty-six of 
the Revised Laws, which provides for an annual 
return and publication relative to the inspection 
of fish, is hereby repealed. 

FISHERIES IN GREAT PONDS. 
Public rights in great ponds. 

Section 15. The fishery of a pond, the area of 
which is more than twenty acres, shall be public, 
except as hereinafter provided; and all persons 
shall, for the purpose of fishing, be allowed 
reasonable means of access thereto. 

Commissioners' control of ponds. 

Section 16. The commissioners may occupy, 
manage and control not more than six great 
ponds, except such as have revested in the com- 
monwealth for breach of the terms and con- 
ditions of any lease thereof, for the purpose of 
cultivating useful fish and of distributing them 
within the commonwealth; and may occupy not 
more than one-tenth part thereof with en- 
closures and appliances for the purpose of such 
cultivation ; but this privilege shall not affect any 
public rights to such ponds, other than the right 
of fishing, and the appliances and enclosures 
shall be so placed as not to debar ingress to or 
egress from such ponds at proper places. 

Section 17. If the commissioners determine 
so to occupy and improve any such pond, they 
shall post a notice of such purpose in a public 
place in the town or towns in which said pond is 
situated and file a like notice in the office of the 



FISH LAWS. 15 



clerk of each of said towns and in the office of the 
secretary of the commonwealth. The affidavit 
of an officer qualified to serve civil process that 
such notice has been posted shall be deemed full 
proof thereof. 

Section 18. After such notice has been so 
filed and posted, any violation of any of the 
rights of said commissioners under the pro- 
visions of section sixteen shall be punished as 
provided in section twenty-nine. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 306. 

Stocking great ponds with food fish. 

Section 19. The commissioners, upon the 
petition of the mayor and aldermen of a city or 
of the selectmen of a town within which a great 
pond or a portion thereof is situated, shall cause 
the waters of such pond to be stocked with such 
food fish as they judge to be best suited to such 
waters. They shall thereupon prescribe, for a 
period not exceeding three years, such reason- 
able regulations relative to the fishing in such 
ponds and their tributaries, with such penalties, 
not exceeding twenty dollars for one offence, as 
they deem to be for the public interest, and shall 
cause such regulations to be enforced. The 
commissioners may restock a pond with fish and 
extend the provisions of this section for an 
additional period of three years whenever they 
receive a petition therefor as herein provided. 
Five hundred dollars shall be annually appro- 
priated by the Commonwealth to carry out the 
provisions of this section. 

Mill pond, Yarmouth. 

Section 20. The commissioners may occupy 
and control Mill pond, in the town of Yarmouth, 
for the purpose of cultivating food fish for dis- 
tribution within the commonwealth. Whoever, 
without the written consent of the commis- 
sioners, fishes in said pond in any other manner 



16 FISH LAWS. 



than with hand line and single hook, shall forfeit 
not less than fifty nor more than two hundred 
dollars for the first offence, and not less than one 
hundred nor more than two hundred dollars for 
any subsequent offence. 

Measurement of ponds. 

Section 21. The county commissioners shall, 
in July, upon the request and at the expense of 
any persons who claim to be interested in a great 
pond, cause a measurement thereof to be made 
which shall be recorded in the office of the town 
clerk of each town within which such pond is 
situated ; and no arm or branch shall be included 
as a part of a pond unless it is at least fifty feet 
in width and one foot in depth. 

Section 22. The selectmen of* a town may 
measure ponds which are wholly within their 
town, in the manner provided in the preceding 
section, and such measurement shall be recorded 
in the office of the town clerk. 

Private ownership of ponds. 

Section 23. The riparian proprietors of any 
pond, the area of which is not more than twenty 
acres, and the proprietors of any pond or parts 
of a pond created by artificial flowing shall have 
exclusive control of the fisheries therein. 

Private ownership of ponds bounded in part by 

public lands. 

Section 24. A pond which is not more than 
twenty acres in area and is bounded in part by 
land belonging to a town or county shall become 
the exclusive property of the individual pro- 
prietors as to the fisheries therein only upon 
payment to the town treasurer, county commis- 
sioners or treasurer and receiver general of a just 
compensation for their respective rights therein, 
to be determined by three persons, one of whom 
shall be a riparian proprietor of said pond, one 
the chairman of the board of selectmen, if the 



FISH LAWS. 17 



rights of a town are in question, or of the county 
commissioners, if the rights of a county or of the 
commonwealth are in question, and one to be 
appointed by the commissioners on fisheries and 
game. 

Section 25. Whoever, without the written 
consent of the proprietor or lessee of a natural 
pond, the area of which is not more than twenty 
acres, or of an artificial pond of any size, in 
which fish are lawfully cultivated and main- 
tained, takes any fish therefrom, shall forfeit 
not more than twenty-five dollars for each 
offence. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1904, CHAP. 308. 

Prohibited apparatus for pond fishing. 

Section 26. Whoever draws, sets, stretches 
or uses a drag net, set net, purse net, seine or 
trawl, or whoever sets or uses more than ten 
hooks for fishing, in any pond, or aids in so doing, 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty 
nor more than fifty dollars. The provisions of 
this section shall not affect the rights of riparian 
proprietors of ponds mentioned in section twenty- 
three or the corporate rights of any fishing com- 
pany. 

CONTROL OF FISHERIES BY RIPARIAN 
PROPRIETORS. 
For cultivation of fish. 

Section 27. A riparian proprietor of an un- 
navigable stream may, within the limits of his 
own premises, enclose the waters thereof for the 
cultivation of useful fish if he furnishes a suitable 
passage for migratory fish naturally frequenting 
such waters. 

"When fish are private property. 

Section 28. Fish which are artificially pro- 
pagated or maintained shall be the property of 
the person propagating or maintaining them. A 



18 FISH LAWS. 



person who is legally engaged in their culture and 
maintenance may take them in his own waters 
at pleasure, and may have them in his possession 
for purposes properly connected with said culture 
and maintenance, and may at all times sell them 
for these purposes, but shall not sell them for 
food at seasons when their capture is prohibited 
by law. 

Penalty for unauthorized fishing. 

Section 29. Whoever, without the permis- 
sion of the proprietors, fishes in that portion of a 
pond, stream or other water in which fish are law- 
fully cultivated or maintained shall forfeit not 
less than one nor more than twenty dollars for the 
first offence, and not less than five nor more than 
fifty dollars for any subsequent offence. 

Definition of navigable stream. 

Section 30. For the purposes of this chapter, 
no tidal stream shall be considered navigable 
above the point where, on the average through- 
out the year, it has a channel less than forty feet 
wide and four feet deep during the three hours 
nearest the hour of high tide. 

Bounds can be fixed. 

Section 31. The governor, with the advice 
and consent of the council, may, for the pur- 
poses of this chapter, arbitrarily fix and define 
the tidal bounds and mouths of streams upon the 
recommendation of the commissioners on fish- 
eries and game. 

Governor can limit fishing. 

Section 32. The governor may, in like man- 
ner, limit or prohibit, for not more than five 
years at any one time, fishing in the navigable 
tidal waters and in the unnavigable waters of 
specified streams, except in such portions as may 
be enclosed according to provisions of section 



FISH LAWS. 19 



twenty-seven; and whoever fishes in streams 
where the right of fishing is thus limited or pro- 
hibited shall forfeit ten dollars for the first offence 
and fifty dollars for each subsequent offence. 

Proprietors' rights. 

Section 33. The riparian proprietor on an 
unnavigable tidal stream, enclosed or unenclosed, 
in which fish are lawfully cultivated or main- 
tained shall have the control of the fishery thereof 
within his own premises and opposite thereto to 
the middle of the stream, and a riparian pro- 
prietor at the mouth of such stream, shall also 
have control of the fishing thereof beyond and 
around the mouth of the stream so far as the 
tide ebbs, if it does not ebb more than eighty 
rods; and whoever fishes within these limits 
without permission of such owner shall forfeit not 
less than one nor more than twenty dollars for 
the first offence and not less than five nor more 
than fifty dollars for each subsequent offence. 

SHAD, HERRING AND ALEWIVES. 
Acts of 1908, Chap. 29S. 

The taking of herring in certain waters by means 
of torches or other light prohibited. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person 
to display torches or other light designed or used 
for the purpose of taking herring in Hull bay, 
Quincy bay, Hingham harbor, or in any waters 
southerly of a line drawn from Moon Island to 
Pemberton. 

Section 2. Whoever violates the provisions 
of this act shall, for a first offence, be punished by 
a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two 
hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not less 
than six nor more than twelve months, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment, and for a second 
offence, by both said fine and imprisonment. 



20 FISH LAWS. 



Rights of towns and cities. 

Section 34. A city or town may open ditches, 
sluiceways or canals into any pond within its 
limits for the introduction and propagation of 
herring or alewives, and for the creation of 
fisheries for the same ; and land for opening such 
ditches, sluiceways or canals within such city or 
town may be taken according to the provisions 
of law for the taking of land for highways. 

Section 35. A city or town which creates 
such fishery shall own it, may make regulations 
concerning it and may lease it for not more than 
five years, upon such terms as may be agreed 
upon. A town may lease for a like period, and 
upon like terms, any fishery owned by it or any 
public fishery regulated and controlled by it. 

Section 36. Whoever takes, kills or hauls on 
shore any herring or alewives in a fishery created 
by a city or town, without its permission or that 
of its lessees, or in a fishery created by a corpo- 
ration, without the permission of such corpora- 
tion, shall forfeit not less than five nor more than 
fifty dollars. Prosecutions under the provisions 
of this section shall be commenced within thirty 
days after the commission of the offence. 

Personal rights. 

Section 37. The provisions of the three pre- 
ceding sections shall not impair the rights of any 
person under any law passed before the twenty- 
fifth day of April in the year eighteen hundred 
and sixty-six or under any contract then existing, 
or authorize a city or town to enter upon or build 
canals or sluiceways into a pond which is the 
private property of a person or corporation. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 321. 
Relative to alewife fishery, Sandwich. 

Section 1. Levi S. Nye and John A. Holway, 
their heirs and assigns, shall have for the term of 
ten years from the date of the passage of this 



FISH LAWS. 21 



act, the exclusive right to take and catch ale- 
wives in the stream known as "Mill River", from 
its sources in the "Shawme Lakes or Ponds", so- 
called, through the marshes in the town of Sand- 
wich to the waters of Cape Cod bay: provided, 
that the said Nye and Holway, their heirs and 
assigns, shall construct and maintain a good and 
sufficient passageway over or around the dam 
or dams which now are or may hereafter be 
erected upon said stream to enable fish to enter 
the ponds above such dam or dams, and shall 
keep such passageway open and unobstructed 
from the first day of April to the fourteenth day 
of June, inclusive, of each year. 

Section 2. Said Nye and Holway, and their 
heirs and assigns, may catch ale wives during two 
thirds of the period specified in section one, that 
is to say, upon fifty days out of the seventy-five 
days between the first day of April and the four- 
teenth day of June, inclusive, of each year. 

Section 3. Any person or persons taking ale- 
wives in said Mill river or in the said lakes or 
ponds without the written consent of the said 
Nye and Holway, or of their heirs and assigns, 
shall, upon the complaint of said Nye or Holway, 
or of their or any of their heirs or assigns, or of 
any person in their behalf, forfeit not less than 
ten nor more than twenty dollars for each offence. 
Half of every such forfeiture shall be paid to said 
Nye and Holway or to their heirs or assigns. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 232. 
Hummock pond, Nantucket. 

Section 1. The inhabitants of the island of 
Nantucket may take alewives or herring with 
seines or nets in Hummock pond, south of the 
bridge in the said island, from the tenth day of 
March to the thirty-first day of May, inclusive, 
in each year; but all fish, other than alewives or 
herring, caught or taken in such seines or nets 
shall immediately be put back in the water 
whence they were taken. 



FISH LAWS. 



Section 2. Any person violating the pro- 
visions of this act, by failing to put back imme- 
diately as aforesaid fish other than alewives or 
herring caught or taken as aforesaid, shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than twenty nor 
more than fifty dollars. 

Section 3. So much of section twenty-six of 
chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws as is in- 
consistent herewith is hereby repealed. 

Fishing on Connecticut river. 

Section 38. Whoever takes or aids in taking 
from the Connecticut river or its tributaries any 
shad or alewives between the first day of July and 
the fifteenth day of March shall forfeit one hun- 
dred dollars for each offence. 

Fishing on Merrimac river. 

Section 39. Whoever, from the first day of 
March to the thirty-first day of May, takes ale- 
wives above tidal waters in the Merrimac river 
or any tributary thereof between sunrise on 
Friday morning and sunrise on Monday morning 
shall, except as provided in section forty-one, 
forfeit for each alewife so taken not less than one 
nor more than five dollars. 

Section 40. No person shall take shad in the 
Merrimac river in any manner between the first 
day of July and the first day of April. 

Regulation of nets, etc. 

Section 41. Whoever takes shad or alewives 
in that part of the Merrimac river where the 
tide ebbs and flows, by the use of a gill net of any 
description, or of a sweep seine having a mesh 
which stretches less than one and three-quarters 
inches, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars for each 
offence. 

Methods and times of fishing. 

Section 42. Whoever takes shad or alewives, 
except in the Connecticut, Taunton Great, 



FISH LAWS. 23 



Nemasket and Merrimac rivers and their tribu- 
taries, in any other manner than by naturally or 
artificially baited hook and hand line, on Sun- 
day, Tuesday or Thursday, and whoever, between 
the fifteenth day of June and the first day of 
March, takes shad, except in the Connecticut and 
Merrimac rivers, or alewives, shall forfeit for 
each shad five dollars, and for each alewife 
twenty-five cents. 

Rights of lessees. 

Section 43. Lessees from the commissioners 
on fisheries and game of any body of water in the 
county of Dukes county and all other persons 
having the right to take alewives in any other 
waters in said county may at any time take ale- 
wives from said waters and from the ditches con- 
necting them with each other and with the ocean. 
Whoever, other than said lessees or any other 
person duly authorized, takes any fish, except 
eels, from any of said waters or ditches without 
the previous permission in writing of said lessees 
or of said duly authorized person shall forfeit one 
dollar for each fish so taken. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 132. 
Authority of officers on Palmer's river. 

Section 1 . The sheriff of the county of Bristol 
or any of his deputies, or any constable or fish 
warden of either of the towns of Swansea and 
Rehoboth, may without a warrant arrest any 
person whom he finds in the act of taking herring, 
alewives or shad from the waters of Palmer's 
river in either of said towns in violation of the 
provisions of chapter one hundred and thirty of 
the acts of the year eighteen hundred and thirty- 
six, or of chapter ninety-two of the acts of the 
year eighteen hundred and fifty- two, and may 
detain such person in a place of safe keeping until 
a warrant can be procured upon a complaint 
against him for said offence: provided, that the 



24 FISH LAWS. 



detention without a warrant shall not exceed 
twenty-four hours. 

Section 2. Whoever violates the provisions 
of either of said chapters shall, in addition to the 
forfeitures therein provided, forfeit the seines 
or nets used in such unlawful taking of herring, 
alewives or shad. 

REGULATION OF FISHING- NEAR FISH- 
WAYS AND WITH NETS, ETC. 
On Connecticut river. 

Section 44. Whoever takes any fish within 
two hundred yards of any fishway on the Con- 
necticut river or its tributaries, or trespasses 
within the limits of such fishway, shall forfeit fifty 
dollars for each offence. Whoever takes any 
fish beyond two hundred and within four hun- 
dred yards of any such fishway, in any other man- 
ner than by artificially or naturally baited hook 
and line, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars for each 
fish so taken. 

On Merrimae river. 

Section 45. Whoever takes any fish within 
four hundred yards of any fishway on the Mer- 
rimae river, or trespasses within the limits of 
such"fishway, shall^forfeit fifty dollars for each 
offence. 

Net fishing season, Merrimae. 

Section 46. Whoever, from the last day of 
May to the first day of March, uses a net of any 
description in the waters of the Merrimae river or 
any tributary thereof shall forfeit twenty-five 
dollars for each offence. 

Gill net fishing prohibited. 

Section 47. Whoever uses a gill net of any 
description in the waters of the Connecticut or 
Merrimae river or any tributary thereof shall 
forfeit twenty-five dollars for each offence. 



FISH LAWS. 25 



Size of mesh. 

Section 48. Whoever, in taking herring or 
mackerel, except with a dep net, in Mill river and 
its tributaries in the city of Gloucester or the 
towns of Essex and Ipswich, or in Plum Island 
river and its tributaries in the towns of Ipswich, 
Rowley or Newbury, uses a net or seine having a 
mesh of less than one and three-quarters inches 
shall be punished by a fine of twenty-five dollars 
for each offence. 

Size of seine mesh. 

Section 49. Whoever uses in the Connecticut, 
Westfield, Deerfield, Miller's, Merrimac, Nashua 
or Housatonic rivers, or any tributary thereof, a 
sweep seine having a mesh which stretches less 
than five inches shall forfeit twenty-five dollars 
for the first offence, and fifty dollars for each sub- 
sequent offence. 

"When penalties do not apply. 

Section 50. The penalties prescribed by this 
chapter for unlawful fishing in the Merrimac river 
shall not apply to any person who draws a net or 
seine with a mesh not less than two and one- 
quarter inches after the twentieth day of June in 
each year at any point in said river below the 
Essex-Merrimac bridge, unless he takes salmon 
or shad, nor if, while thus lawfully fishing, he 
takes such fish and immediately returns it alive to 
the waters from which it was taken. 

Regulations on Connecticut river. 

Section 51. Whoever, between the fifteenth 
day of March and the first day of July, sets or 
uses, or aids in setting or using, in the Connecticut 
river, a pound, weir or set net the meshes whereof 
are less than two inches in extent, or between sun- 
set on Saturday and sunrise on Monday sets or 
draws, or aids in setting or drawing, a seine for 
the purpose of taking fish in said river, and any 



26 FISH LAWS. 



person owning or controlling in whole or in part a 
pound, weir or set net of any description, placed in 
said river, who, between sunset and sunrise as 
aforesaid, fails to keep the same open and free for 
the passage of fish in a manner satisfactory to the 
commissioners on fisheries and game shall forfeit 
four hundred dollars for each offence; and, in 
addition, shall forfeit such pounds, weirs and set 
nets. 

Seining restrictions. 

Section 52. Whoever uses a sweep seine or 
combination of sweep seines in such a manner as 
at any moment to close or seriously obstruct more 
than two-thirds of the width of a stream at the 
place where it is used, or delays or stops in paying 
out or hauling a sweep seine, or hauls a sweep 
seine within one-half mile of a point where such 
seine has been hauled within an hour, shall for- 
feit twenty-five dollars for the first offence, and 
fifty dollars for each subsequent offence; but the 
provisions of this section shall not apply to seines 
used in the smelt fisheries, or to the fisheries for 
shad or alewives in the Taunton Great river, or to 
the fisheries in North river in the county of 
Plymouth. 

Restrictions, North river. 

Section 53. Whoever sets a seine or combi- 
nation of seines over three hundred and eighty- 
five feet in length, or casts a mesh net over three 
hundred and fifty feet in length, in the North 
river in the county of Plymouth shall for each 
offence be punished by a fine not less than twenty- 
five nor more than one hundred dollars or by im- 
prisonment for not less than one nor more than 
three months. 

Town and city fish wardens. 

Section 54. The mayor and aldermen of 
cities and the selectmen of towns bordering on the 
Connecticut or Merrimac river shall appoint and 



FISH LAWS. 27 



fix the compensation of one or more fish wardens 
within their respective cities and towns, who 
shall, respectively, make complaint of all offences 
under the provisions of sections thirty-eight, 
forty-four, forty-five and fifty-one. 

Liability for neglect to appoint wardens. 

Section 55. A city or town whose mayor and 
aldermen or selectmen neglect to appoint and fix 
the compensation of such fish wardens shall 
forfeit not less than one hundred nor more than 
five hundred dollars. 

BLUEFISH. 
In Wellfleet bay. 

Section 56. Whoever takes any bluefish in 
the waters of Wellfleet bay in the town of Well- 
fleet with nets or seines, north and east of 
Smalley's bar inside of a line drawn from Smal- 
ley's bar buoy east-southeast to the eastern 
shore and west-northwest to the western shore, 
shall forfeit one dollar for each bluefish so taken 
or be punished by a fine of not more than one 
hundred dollars. 

SALMON AND TROUT. 
Apparatus for salmon. 

Section 57. Whoever takes a salmon, other- 
wise than with naturally or artificially baited 
hook and hand line, shall be punished by a fine 
of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred 
dollars for each fish so taken; but a person who 
so catches a salmon when lawfully fishing and 
immediately returns it alive to the waters from 
which it was taken shall not be subject to such 
penalty. 

Salmon season, etc. 

Section 58. Whoever takes a salmon between 
the first day of August and the first day of May, 
and whoever at any time buys, sells or has in his 



28 FISH LAWS. 



possession a salmon taken in this commonwealth 
between said dates, shall forfeit not less than ten 
nor more than fifty dollars for each offence ; and 
whoever at any time buys, sells or has in his 
possession a young salmon less than one foot in 
length shall forfeit five dollars for every such 
salmon. 

Salmon pots. 

Section 59. Whoever at any time obstructs 
with a salmon pot more than one-half of a water- 
fall, channel or rapid or sets, uses, or maintains a 
salmon pot the diameter of which is more than 
two feet, or who, when the taking of salmon is 
forbidden by law, sets, uses or maintains any sal- 
mon pot whatever, shall forfeit ten dollars for the 
first offence and twenty dollars for each subse- 
quent offence. 

Screens on the Merrimac. 

Section 60. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game shall, during April, May and June, for 
the better protection of salmon fry in the Merri- 
mac river, cause wire screens to be erected and 
maintained at the entrance of the canals in 
Lowell and Lawrence at the expense of the com- 
panies owning and operating said canals. 

Liability for minors. 

Section 61. If a minor takes a trout in any 
other manner than by hook and line in a town 
which accepts the provisions of this section or has 
accepted the corresponding provisions of earlier 
laws, his guardian shall forfeit one dollar for each 
trout so taken; but all prosecutions under the 
provisions of this section shall be commenced 
within thirty days after the commission of the 
offence. 



FISH LAWS. 29 



As AMENDED BT ACTS OF 1906, CHAP. 314, 

Closed season on trout, land-locked salmon and 

lake trout. 

Section 62. Whoever takes a trout, land- 
locked salmon or lake trout between the first day 
of August and the fifteenth day of April shall 
forfeit not less than ten nor more than twenty- 
five dollars for each offence. Whoever buys 
such fish taken between said dates in this com- 
monwealth or takes fish with a net or salmon pot 
at any season of the year shall forfeit not less than 
five nor more than twenty dollars for each fish so 
taken. 

As amended by Acts op 1906, Chap. 314. 

Sale of wild trout, salmon, etc., prohibited. 

Section 63. Whoever, except as provided in 
section sixty-six, sells or offers or exposes for 
sale, or has in his possession, a trout, land-locked 
salmon or lake trout, except alive, between the 
first day of August and the fifteenth day of April, 
shall forfeit not less than ten nor more than 
twenty-five dollars for each offence; and the 
possession of any such fish between said dates 
shall be prima facie evidence to convict. 

Section 3. Nothing herein contained shall be 
construed as affecting or repealing the provisions 
of chapter two hundred and five of the acts of 
the year nineteen hundred and three. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect on the 
thirty-first day of March in the year nineteen 
hundred and seven. 

As amended by Acts op 1905, Chap. 190. 
Illegal size of trout. 

Section 64. Whoever at any time takes, 
catches or has in possession, or whoever sells or 
offers or exposes for sale in this commonwealth, 
trout less than six inches in length shall forfeit 
ten dollars for each such trout taken, caught, held 



30 FISH LAWS. 



in possession, sold or offered or exposed for sale; 
but the provisions of this section shall not affect 
the provisions of section twenty-eight, nor shall 
they apply to a person who is engaged in breeding 
or rearing trout or to any person who, upon tak- 
ing such trout, immediately returns it alive to the 
water from which it was taken. 

Public waters only to be stocked. 

Section 65. No person, corporation or asso- 
ciation shall be provided by the commonwealth 
with trout or trout spawn to stock waters owned 
or leased by him or them or under his or their con- 
trol unless he or they first agree in writing with 
the commissioners on fisheries and game that 
such waters so stocked shall be free for the public 
to fish in during the season in which the taking of 
trout is permitted by law. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 263. 

Prohibition of the sale of all trout except those 
artificially reared. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful at any time 
within three years after April eighth, nineteen 
hundred and six, to buy or sell trout, or to offer 
trout for sale, within the commonwealth: pro- 
vided, however, that nothing in this act shall pre- 
vent the sale of trout artificially propogated or 
maintained or hatched from the egg in the house 
of the owner and grown in pools of said owner, in 
so far as the sale thereof is permitted by the laws 
of this commonwealth now in force. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision of 
this act shall be punished by a fine of one dollar 
for each trout so bought, sold or offered for sale. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect on the 
eighth day of April in the year nineteen hundred 
and six. 



FISH LAWS. 31 



AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 296. 

Sale of artificially reared trout. 

Section 66. Trout not less than nine inches 
in length, which are hatched from the egg in the 
house of the owner and grown in pools of said 
owner, may be sold for food from February first 
to April fifteenth. 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1904, CHAP. 329. 

PICKEREL. 
Legal size of pickerel. 

Section 67. Whoever takes from the waters 
of this commonwealth a pickerel less than ten 
inches in length, or sells or offers for sale, or has 
in his possession, with intent to sell any such 
pickerel, shall forfeit one dollar for each pickerel 
so taken, held in possession, sold or offered or 
exposed for sale; and in prosecutions under the 
provisions of this section the possession of pick- 
erel less than ten inches in length shall be prima 
facie evidence to convict. 

Acts of 1905, Chap. 417. 
Apparatus of capture. 

Section 1. A town may by a by-law duly 
enacted and approved as required by law forbid 
the taking or catching of pickerel in any river, 
stream or pond therein in any other manner than 
by naturally or artificially baited hook and hand 
line, and may provide a suitable penalty for the 
violation of such by-law. 

Section 2. Section sixty-eight of chapter 
ninety-one of the Revised Laws, and chapter 
three hundred and sixty-four of the acts of the 
year nineteen hundred and four, are hereby 
repealed. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its 
passage. 



32 FISH LAWS 



Acts of 1901, Chap. 158, as amended by Acts of 1905, 
Chap. 429. 

FISHING IN LAKE QUINSIGAMOND, 

WORCESTER. 

Section 1. For a period of five years after the 
passage of this act no person shall fish, except for 
pickerel, in any manner whatsoever between the 
first day of September and the first day of April 
in each year in Lake Quinsigamond in the county 
of Worcester, or in its tributaries, above what is 
known as the Stringer dam, including Full Moon 
cove, Jordan pond and Newton pond commonly 
called Mud pond; and between the first day of 
April and the first day of September in each year 
during said period no person shall take from said 
lake or its tributaries as aforesaid any fish except 
pickerel, in any manner except with a single hook 
and either a hand line or a line attached to a rod 
or pole held by hand, with bait, artificial fly or 
spoon. 

Section 2. Section 2 of said chapter is hereby 
amended by inserting after the word "fish", in 
the first line, the words: — except pickerel, — so 
as to read as follows : — Section 2. No person 
shall take any fish, except pickerel, from said 
lake or its tributaries as aforesaid during said 
period of five years for the purpose of sale, trade 
or barter. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 223. 
BLACK BASS. 
Black bass protection repealed. 

Section 1. Section sixty-nine of chapter 
ninety-one of the Revised Laws, relative to the 
taking of black bass, is hereby repealed. 

Size. 

Section 70. Whoever takes or sells or offers 
for sale or has in his possession with intent to sell 
a black bass less than eight inches in length shall 



FISH LAWS. 33 



forfeit ten dollars for each fish so taken, sold or 
offered or exposed for sale; and in prosecutions 
under the provisions of this section the possession 
of a black bass less than eight inches in length 
shall be prima facie evidence to convict. 

SMELTS. 
Close season. 

Section 71. Whoever, between the fifteenth 
day of March and the first day of June, sells or 
offers or exposes for sale or has in his possession a 
smelt taken between said dates in this common- 
wealth, shall forfeit one dollar for every such 
smelt; and the possession of a smelt between 
said dates shall be prima facie evidence to con- 
vict. 

Apparatus allowed. 

Section 72. Whoever takes a smelt in any 
other manner than by naturally or artificially 
baited hook and hand line shall, except as pro- 
vided in section seventy-six, forfeit one dollar for 
each smelt so taken; and in all prosecutions 
under the provisions of this section the burden 
of proof shall be upon the defendant to show that 
smelts taken by him were legally caught. 

Exceptions in certain counties. 

Section 73. The provisions of the two pre- 
ceding sections shall not apply to smelts taken in 
a seine or net in the counties of Bristol, Barn- 
stable, Nantucket or Dukes county during the 
time and in the manner in which fishing is allowed 
for perch, herring or alewives. 

Prohibited apparatus. 

Section 74. No person shall set, draw, use or 
attempt to set, draw or use any net, seine, trap 
or device for catching smelts, other than a 
naturally or artificially baited hook, in the waters 
of Boston harbor, Hingham harbor, Weir river, 



34 FISH LAWS. 



Weymouth Fore river, Weymouth Back river, 
Neponset river, Charles river, Mystic river, or in 
any cove, bay, inlet or tributary thereof ; but the 
provisions of this section shall not prohibit the 
use of traps for catching lobsters. 

What constitutes evidence. 

Section 75. Possession of any net, seine, trap 
or device for catching fish, other than a naturally 
or artificially baited hook, in or upon said har- 
bors, rivers or tributaries, or on the banks of the 
same, if adapted to the present catching of smelts 
and apparently intended for that purpose, shall 
be deemed prima facie evidence of a violation of 
the provisions of the preceding section, and the 
possession of any fresh smelts, not apparently 
caught by the use of a hook, in or upon said har- 
bors, rivers or tributaries, or on the banks of 
the same, after sunset or under other circum- 
stances of suspicion, shall be deemed prima facie 
evidence that said smelts were caught contrary 
to the provisions of the preceding section by the 
person in whose possession they are found. 

Penalties. 

Section 76. Whoever violates the pro- 
visions of section seventy-four or receives smelts 
knowing or having reasonable cause to believe 
that the same have been taken contrary to the 
provisions of said section shall, for a first offence, 
be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor 
more than two hundred dollars or by imprison- 
ment for not less than six nor more than twelve 
months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, 
and, for a second offence, by both said fine and 
imprisonment. 

Right of search. 

Section 77. Any commissioner on fisheries 
and game, deputy commissioner, member of the 
district police, sheriff, deputy sheriff, police 



FISH LAWS. 35 



officer or constable, within his jurisdiction, may 
search for and seize, without warrant, any 
smelts which he has reason to suspect were taken 
contrary to the provisions of section seventy- 
four, and the net, seine, trap or other device and 
the vessel, boat, craft or other apparatus used in 
connection with such receiving, or other violation 
of said section, and the cask, barrel or other 
vessel or wrapper containing said smelts Said 
officer may libel said property according to law, 
or, at his discretion, sell the same or any part 
thereof at private sale or by public auction, and 
libel the net proceeds of such sale according to 
law, in the same manner and with the same effect 
as if such proceeds were the property itself. 

FORFEITURE OF FISH, BOATS, ETC. 
Forfeiture of boats and apparatus. 

Section 78. Whoever takes any fish in vio- 
lation of the provisions of section twenty-six, 
twenty-nine, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty- 
nine, forty, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, 
forty-seven, fifty-eight, sixty-two, sixty-eight, 
sixty-nine, seventy-two, or one hundred and 
thirty-two, or whoever violates the provisions 
of sections twenty-six, thirty-three or seventy- 
six shall, in addition to the penalties therein 
provided, forfeit the boat and apparatus used. 

Forfeiture of fish and apparatus. 

Section 79. Whoever violates the provisions 
of sections twenty-six, thirty-two, forty-one, 
forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty-two and fifty-nine 
shall, in addition to the penalties therein pro- 
vided, forfeit the fish taken and the apparatus 
used. 

Duty of superintendents, clerks and others. 

Section 80. Every superintendent, clerk or 
other person who has charge of a market, pro- 
vision store or other place in which fish are sold, 



36 FISH LAWS. 



and who has reasonable cause to believe that any 
fish taken in violation of law has been offered for 
sale on such premises, shall immediately give in- 
formation thereof to a constable or trial justice 
in the city or town in which said premises are 
situated; and for each neglect so to do shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than five nor more 
than fifty dollars. 

PIKE PERCH. 

Acts of 190S, Chap. 488. 
Relative to pike perch caught in certain waters. 

Section 1. No corporation, association or 
person shall have in possession in this common- 
wealth any pike perch caught in that part of 
Lake Champlain or its tributaries known as 
Missisquoi bay, lying and being in the province 
of Quebec, or in the Richelieu river, which is the 
outlet of said lake, between February first and 
June first. 

Section 2. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game and their deputies are hereby author- 
ized to search for, to seize, and to confiscate, 
without a warrant, pike perch held in possession 
in violation of the preceding section, and it shall 
be the duty of every officer designated in section 
four of chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws, 
thus without a warrant to search for and seize 
pike perch so held in possession, and to report 
the seizure to the said commissioners, who shall 
authorize the sale of such fish; and the proceeds 
of such sale shall be paid into the treasury of the 
commonwealth. 

Section 3. Any company, association or per- 
son violating the provisions of this act shall be 
liable to a penalty of fifty dollars, and ten dollars 
additional for each pike perch held in possession 
in violation of the provisions of this act. Chapter 
one hundred and seventy-nine of the acts of the 
year nineteen hundred and six is hereby repealed. 



FISH LAWS. 



SHINERS AND STURGEON. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 239. 
The taking of shiners for bait. 

Section 1. It shall be lawful to take shiners 
for bait in any of the waters of the common- 
wealth by means of a circular or hoop net not 
exceeding 6 feet in diameter, or by means of a 
rectangular net other than a seine, containing 
not more than 36 square feet of net surface. 

Section 2. The provisions of section twenty- 
six of chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws, 
as amended by chapter three hundred and eight 
of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and four, 
and of section one hundred and thirty-two of said 
chapter ninety-one, shall not apply to a person 
taking fish other than shiners by means of the 
apparatus described in section one : provided, 
that such other fish are immediately returned 
alive to the water. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its 
passage. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1905, CHAP. 181. 

Taking shiners for bait in the Merrimae and 
Connecticut rivers. 

Section 81. During October and November 
any person may, for the purpose of taking 
shiners for bait, draw a net or seine at any point 
in the Merrimae and Connecticut rivers and their 
tributaries, except within four hundred yards of 
any fishway; and if any other fish so caught are 
immediately returned alive to the waters from 
which they were taken, the penalties prescribed 
in sections forty-six, forty-seven, forty-nine, 
seventy-eight and seventy-nine shall not apply to 
the taking of such fish. 

Sturgeon nets. 

Section 82. A person who uses a net or seine 
having a mesh which stretches at least twelve 
inches shall not incur a penalty for taking stur- 
geon in the tidal waters of the Merrimae river. 



38 FISH LA WS. 



EELS, CLAMS, QUAHAUGS AND SCALLOPS. 

Section 83, as Amended by Acts of 190S, Chap. 270. 
Relative to the taking of scallops. 

Section 83. Whoever between the first day 
of April and the first day of October takes scallops 
from the flats or waters of the commonwealth by 
means of dredges, rakes, hoes, shovels or any 
other implement whatever, or buys or sells scal- 
lops so taken, or has them in possession for any 
purpose, shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than twenty nor more than fifty dollars for each 
offence; but the provisions of this section shall 
not apply to the taking of scallops for bait in the 
waters adjacent to the town of Nantucket from 
the first day of April to the fifteenth day of May 
inclusive. 

Section 2. It shall be lawful for any person 
at any time to take scallops by hand for food for 
his own personal or family use. 

Acts op 1907, Chap. 297. 
Protection of seed scallops. 

Section 1. For the purposes of this act a seed 
scallop shall be a scallop with a bright, thin, 
slightly curved shell, with no foreign growth 
adherent, the shell having no sharply defined 
growth line, and the animal being less than one 
year old. 

Section 2. No unculled or seed scallops taken 
from the flats or tide-waters of the Common- 
wealth shall be held in captivity. Seed scallops 
so taken shall be culled out and returned alive 
and uninjured to tide water which is at least three 
feet deep at mean low tide. 

Section 3. Whoever takes or has in posses- 
sion a seed scallop taken from the flats or tide 
waters of the Commonwealth and fails to return 
it immediately to tide water as provided in the 
preceding section, shall be punished by a fine of 
not less than five nor more than twenty dollars 



FISH LAWS. 39 



for each offence. Possession of a seed scallop 
shall be prima facie evidence that such seed 
scallop was taken from the flats or tide waters of 
the Commonwealth contrary to law. 

Section 4. All acts and parts of acts incon- 
sistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

City and town jurisdiction. 

Section 85. The mayor and aldermen of 
cities and the selectmen of towns, if so instructed 
by their cities and towns, may, except as pro- 
vided in the two preceding sections, control, 
regulate or prohibit the taking of eels, clams, 
quahaugs and scallops within the same; and 
may grant permits prescribing the times and 
methods of taking eels and such shellfish within 
such cities and towns and make such other regu- 
lations in regard to said fisheries as they may 
deem expedient. But an inhabitant of the com- 
monwealth, without such permit, may take eels 
and the shellfish above-named for his own family 
use from the waters of his own or any other city 
or town, and may take from the waters of his 
own city or town any of such shellfish for 'bait, 
not exceeding three bushels, including shells, in 
any one day, subject to the general rules of the 
mayor and aldermen and selectmen, respectively, 
as to the times and methods of taking such fish. 
The provisions of this section shall not authorize 
the taking of fish in violation of the provisions 
of sections forty-four and forty-five. Whoever 
takes any eels or any of said shellfish without 
such permit, and in violation of the provisions 
of this section, shall forfeit not less than three nor 
more than fifty dollars. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 269. 
Quahaugs in Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet. 

Section 1. No person shall take quahaugs 
from their natural beds, or wilfully obstruct or 
interfere with such natural beds, within the towns 



40 FISH LA WS. 



of Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet, except as 
hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. No inhabitant of said towns shall 
sell or offer for sale little neck clams or quahaugs 
which measure less than one and one half inches 
across the widest part, and no person shall in any 
of said towns sell or offer for sale little neck clams 
or quahaugs which measure less than one and 
one half inches across the widest part. 

Section 3. The selectmen of any one of said 
towns may give to any inhabitants of any of said 
towns permits in writing to take quahaugs from 
their beds in the town which the selectmen rep- 
resent at such times, in such quantities and for 
such uses as they shall deem expedient. Such 
permits shall be good for such time as the select- 
men may determine, not exceeding one year. 
Any inhabitant of the commonwealth may with- 
out such permit take from the natural beds in said 
towns quahaugs for the use of his family, not 
exceeding in quantity one bushel, including shells, 
in any one day ; and any fisherman may without 
such permit take quahaugs from the natural beds 
in his own town for bait for his own use, not ex- 
ceeding in quantity one bushel, including shells, 
in any one day. 

Section 4. The selectmen of the said towns 
may, in their respective towns, grant licenses or 
permits for such periods, not exceeding two 
years, and under such conditions as they may 
deem proper, not however covering more than 
seventy-five feet square in area, to any inhab- 
itants of the town to bed quahaugs in any waters, 
flats and creeks within the town at any place 
where there is no natural quahaug bed, not im- 
pairing the private rights of any person or materi- 
ally obstructing any navigable waters. It shall 
be unlawful for any person, except the licensee 
and his agents, to take any quahaugs in or re- 
move them from the territory covered by any 
such license. 

Section 5. Whoever violates any provision 



FISH LAWS. 41 



of this act or of any regulation made by the 
selectmen under authority hereof shall be pun- 
ished by a fine of not more than one hundred 
dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six 
months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 

Section 6 [as amended by Acts of 1905, Chap. 
265]. So much of section eighty-five of chapter 
ninety-one of the Revised Laws as is inconsistent 
herewith shall not apply to the said towns; and 
nothing herein contained shall be construed to 
affect the rights of the inhabitants of Orleans and 
Eastham under section five of chapter sixty-four 
of the acts of the year seventeen hundred and 
ninety-six, approved March third, seventeen 
hundred and ninety-seven. 

Section 7. This act shall take effect in any of 
said towns only upon its acceptance by a ma- 
jority of the voters thereof present and voting 
thereon at a meeting called for the purpose. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 282. 
Cultivation of shellfish. 

Section 1. Cities by a two thirds vote of each 
branch of the city council in cities having a com- 
mon council and a board of aldermen, or by a 
two thirds vote of the board of aldermen in 
cities not having a common council, and towns 
by a two thirds vote of the voters present and 
voting thereon at any town meeting called for the 
purpose, may appropriate money for the culti- 
vation, propagation and protection of shellfish. 
The mayor and aldermen of cities, and the select- 
men of towns, when so authorized by their re- 
spective cities and towns, may declare from time 
to time a close season for shellfish for not more 
than three years in such waters or flats within 
the limits of their respective cities and towns as 
they deem proper, and may plant and grow shell- 
fish in such waters and flats : provided, that no 
private rights are impaired ; and provided, further, 
that when any close season, declared as aforesaid, 



42 FISH LAWS. 



shall have ended, the flats and waters so closed 
shall be opened subject to the provisions of sec- 
tion eighty-five of chapter ninety-one of the Re- 
vised Laws, and of any special laws. 

Section 2. Whoever takes shellfish in viola- 
tion of the provisions of this act shall forfeit not 
less than three nor more than fifty dollars. Any 
officer qualified to serve criminal process, and 
special constables, designated under the pro- 
visions of section one hundred and thirty-four of 
chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws, shall 
have power to enforce the provisions of this act, 
with all the powers conferred by said section. 

Section 3. District courts and trial justices 
shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the 
superior court of all offences under this act. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 477. 
Protection of shellfish in the town of Dartmouth. 

Section 1. No person shall take any shellfish 
from their beds or wilfully obstruct the growth 
of any shellfish within the town of Dartmouth, 
except as is hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. The selectmen of said town may 
give permits in writing to any person to take 
shellfish from their beds within said town at such 
times, in such quantities, for such uses and by 
such methods as they shall deem expedient. 
They shall grant such permits to any inhabitant 
of the town to take from the beds in said town 
shellfish for the use of himself and his family not 
exceeding in quantity one half bushel including 
shells in any one day. They shall grant such 
permits to any fisherman to take shellfish from 
said beds for bait for his own use not exceeding in 
quantity one bushel including shells in any one 
day. Such permits shall be signed by the select- 
men, shall be recorded in a book kept for the pur- 
pose and shall remain in force for one year from 
their date. 

Section 3. Every person taking shellfish 



FISH LAWS. 43 



from their beds within said town under the pro- 
visions of this act shall at the time of such taking 
have with him the permit granted to him as 
above provided and shall exhibit it upon demand 
to any constable of the town or other officer 
charged with the duty of enforcing the provisions 
of this act. 

Section 4. No person shall take from their 
beds in said town or sell or offer for sale or have 
in his possession any little neck clams or quahaugs 
measuring less than one and one half inches 
across the widest part. 

Section 5. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than ten or more than one hundred dollars. 

Section 6. The third district court of Bristol 
shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the 
superior court of all offences under this act. 

Section 7. So much of section eighty-five of 
chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws as is 
inconsistent herewith shall not apply to the town 
of Dartmouth. 

LOBSTERS, TAUTOG AND OTHER FISH. 

Egg lobsters. 

Section 86. Whoever at any time catches or 
takes or has in his possession with intent to sell, 
or sells, any female lobster bearing eggs shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more 
than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for 
not less than one nor more than three months for 
each offence; but a person who catches or takes 
any such lobster and immediately returns it alive 
to the waters from which it was taken shall not 
be subject to such penalty. The provisions of 
this section shall not apply to lobsters spawning 
in lobster cars if they are immediately returned 
alive to the waters from which they were taken. 
Exposure for sale or possession otherwise than as 
herein provided shall be prima facie evidence of 
an intent to sell. 



44 FISH LA WS. 



Town officers to enforce preceding section. 

Section 87. The mayor and aldermen of 
cities, the selectmen of towns, police officers and 
constables shall cause the provisions of the pre- 
ceding section to be enforced in their respective 
cities and towns. 



AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 303. 

Legal length of lobsters. 

Section 88. Whoever sells or offers for sale or 
has in his possession an uncooked lobster less than 
nine inches in length, or a cooked lobster less than 
eight and three quarters inches in length, meas- 
uring from the extremity of the bone protruding 
from the head to the end of the bone of the middle 
flipper of the tail of the lobster, extended on its 
back its natural length, shall forfeit not more 
than five dollars for every such lobster, one half 
to the use of the city or town in which the offence 
is committed and one half to the commonwealth; 
and in all prosecutions under the provisions of 
this section any mutilation of a lobster, cooked 
or uncooked, which affects its measurement shall 
be prima facie evidence that the lobster is less 
than the required length and the possession of any 
lobster, cooked or uncooked, which is not of the 
required length shall be prima facie evidence to 
convict. 

Section 2. This act shall take effect upon its 
passage. 

Mutilation unlawful. 

Section 89. Whoever, before a lobster is 
cooked, mutilates it by severing the tail from the 
body, or has such tail in possession, shall be 
punished by a fine of five dollars for each offence ; 
and in all prosecutions under the provisions of 
this section the possession, by any person, of the 
tail of any uncooked lobster so severed from the 
body shall be prima facie evidence to convict. 



FISH LAWS. 45 



Detail of district police. 

Section 90. The governor, upon the written 
request of the commissioners on fisheries and 
game or one of them, may detail one or more of 
the district police from any district or town to 
enforce the provisions of section eighty-eight. 

Right of search. 

Section 91. For the purpose of enforcing the 
provisions of section eighty-eight, any one of the 
commissioners on fisheries and game or their 
deputy or any member of the district police may 
search in suspected places for, seise and remove 
lobsters which have been unlawfully taken, held 
or offered for sale. 

Residence. 

Section 92. Whoever, not having been an 
inhabitant of this commonwealth for one year, 
sets or keeps or causes to be set or kept in the 
waters of this commonwealth any pot, net or trap 
for the catching of lobsters shall forfeit twenty 
dollars for each offence. 

Commissioners' rights. 

Section 93. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game may occupy and use any small 
estuaries or creeks within the commonwealth, not 
exceeding six, for the scientific investigation of 
the habits, propagation and distribution of lob- 
sters, if such occupation and use does not impair 
the private rights of any person or materially 
obstruct any navigable waters. Notice of such 
occupation shall be conspicuously posted and 
maintained by said commissioners at the nearest 
points to said estuaries and creeks, and shall be 
recorded in the registry of deeds in the county in 
which they are situated. 



46 FISH LAWS. 



Penalty. 

Section 94. Whoever, after the posting and 
recording of such notice, catches or takes any 
lobster from any estuary or creek so occupied as 
aforesaid shall be punished as provided in section 
eighty-six. 

Non-residential prohibition upon taking lobsters 
and fish in Fairhaven, New Bedford, Dartmouth 
and Westport. 

Section 95. No person living without this 
commonwealth shall take any lobsters, tautog, 
bass or other fish within the harbors, streams or 
waters of Fairhaven, New Bedford, Dartmouth 
or Westport for the purpose of carrying them 
thence in vessels or smacks of any size whatever 
owned without this commonwealth, nor in any of 
more than fifteen tons burden owned within this 
commonwealth, under a penalty of ten dollars 
for each offence and a forfeiture of all fish and 
lobsters so taken. 

Territorial definition. 

Section 96. For the purposes of the preceding 
section, the waters and shores of the places 
therein mentioned shall be deemed to extend 
from the line of the state of Rhode Island to the 
line of the county of Plymouth, and to include all 
the waters, islands and rocks lying within one 
mile of the mainland. 

Penalty. 

Section 97. If, within the harbors, streams, 
or waters of any place on the sea coast which 
accepts the provisions of this section or has 
accepted the corresponding provisions of earlier 
laws, a person who lives without the common- 
wealth takes, for the purpose of carrying thence, 
any lobsters, tautog, bass, bluefish or scuppaug, 
or if a person who lives in this commonwealth 
takes and carries away from such place any such 



FISH LAWS. 47 



fish or lobsters in vessels or smacks of more than 
fifteen tons burden, he shall forfeit for each 
offence not more than twenty dollars, and all the 
fish and lobsters so taken. 

Transportation from Provincetown. 

Section 98. No person shall take lobsters 
within the waters and shores of the town of 
Provincetown for the purpose of carrying them 
from said waters in a vessel or smack of more 
than fifteen tons burden, or for the purpose of 
putting them on board of such vessel or smack to 
be transported to any place, unless a permit is 
first obtained therefor from the selectmen^ said 
town, who may grant the same for such amount, 
to be paid to the use of the town, as they shall 
deem proper. Whoever violates the provisions 
of this section shall forfeit ten dollars for each 
offence; and a further amount of ten dollars for 
every hundred lobsters over the first hundred 
taken or found on board of any such vessel or 
smack, and in that proportion for any smaller 
number. For the purposes of this section, the 
waters and shores of Provincetown shall be 
deemed to be as follows : beginning at Race 
Point, one half mile from the shore, and thence 
running by said shore to the end of Long Point 
which forms the harbor of Provincetown, and 
from the end of Long Point one half mile and in- 
cluding the harbor within the town of Province- 
town. 

Limitation in Buzzard's bay. 

Section 99. Whoever, between the first day 
of April and the first day of July, inclusive, takes 
more than one hundred pounds a week of lob- 
sters, tautog, bass or scuppaug in the bays, har- 
bors, ponds, rivers or creeks of the waters of 
Buzzard's bay, within one mile from the shore 
and within the jurisdiction of the towns of 
Bourne and Wareham, shall forfeit not more 
than fifty dollars. 



48 FISH LAWS. 



Acts op 1904, Chap. 408. 
Authorizing purchase of egg-bearing lobsters, etc. 
Section 1. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game are hereby authorized and empowered 
to purchase, at a rate not exceeding twenty-five 
per cent above the market price, lobsters with 
eggs attached, caught along the shore of this 
commonwealth. Whoever catches any such 
lobsters with eggs attached may, after receiving 
a permit from the commissioners on fisheries and 
game, safely store the same in lobster cars or 
sections of cars used for that purpose only, and 
may keep them separate from other lobsters until 
such time as the said commissioners or some per- 
son or persons designated by them can gather 
and pay for them. The commissioners and their 
agent shall liberate them in the vicinity of the 
location where they were caught ; or they may at 
their discretion sell any portion or all of them to 
the officer in charge of the United States fish 
hatchery for artificial propagation, the proceeds 
to be applied to the appropriation made for the 
enforcement of this act. 

OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELLFISH. 

Oysters. 

Section 100. Whoever takes oysters from 
their beds, or destroys them or wilfully obstructs 
their growth therein, except as is provided in the 
following sections, shall forfeit two dollars for 
every bushel of oysters, including the shells, so 
taken or destroyed. 

Town officials may grant permits. 

Section 101. The mayor and aldermen of a 
city or selectmen of a town in which there are 
oyster beds may grant a permit in writing to any 
person to take oysters from their beds at such 
times, in such quantities and for such uses as they 
shall express in their permit; but every inhab- 



FISH LAWS. 49 



itant of such city or town, except the town of 
Yarmouth, may, without such permit, take 
oysters from the beds therein for the use of his 
family, from the first day of September to the 
first day of June, not exceeding in any week two 
bushels, including the shells. 

Penalties and permits. 

Section 102. Whoever takes any other shell- 
fish from their beds, or destroys them or wilfully 
obstructs their growth therein, except as is here- 
inafter provided, shall forfeit one dollar for 
every bushel of such other shellfish, including 
the shells. But the mayor and aldermen of a 
city or selectmen of a town may at any time give 
a permit in writing to any person to take such 
other shellfish from their beds therein, at such 
times, in such quantities and for such uses as 
they shall express in their permit; but every in- 
habitant of each of said places may, without such 
permit, take such other shellfish from the beds 
therein for the use of his family. 

Rights of Indians and fishermen. 

Section 103. The provisions of the three pre- 
ceding sections shall not deprive native Indians 
of the privilege of digging shellfish for their own 
consumption, or prevent a fisherman, who is an 
inhabitant of this commonwealth, from taking 
shellfish which he may want for bait, not exceed- 
ing at any one time seven bushels, including the 
shells. 

Oyster licenses. 

Section 104. The mayor and aldermen of a 
city or selectmen of a town may, by writing under 
their hands, grant a license for a term not ex- 
ceeding ten years to any inhabitant thereof to 
plant, grow and dig oysters at all times of the 
year, or to plant oyster shells for the purpose of 
catching oyster seed, upon and in any waters, 
flats and creeks therein, at any place where 



50 FISH LAWS. 



there is no natural oyster bed; not, however, 
impairing the private rights of any person, nor 
materially obstructing any navigable waters. 

Limits of areas. 

Section 105. Such license shall describe by 
metes and bounds the waters, flats and creeks 
so appropriated and shall be recorded by the city 
or town clerk before it shall have any force, and 
the licensee shall pay to the mayor and alder- 
men or selectmen, for their use, two dollars, and 
to the clerk fifty cents. The shore line of such 
licensed premises shall be the line of mean low 
water for the planting and growing of oysters, 
and the line of high water for the planting of 
oyster shells, but the provisions of this section 
shall not authorize the placing of such shells 
upon the land of a riparian owner between high 
and low water mark without his written consent. 

Public hearings. 

Section 106. Such license shall not be granted 
until after a public hearing, due notice of which 
shall have been posted in three or more public 
places in the city or town in which the premises 
are situated at least seven days before the time 
fixed for such hearing. 

Who can have a license. 

Section 107. Such license shall be granted, 
assigned or transferred only to inhabitants of the 
city or town in which the licensed premises are 
situated, and shall not be assigned or transferred 
without the written consent of the mayor and 
aldermen of such city or the selectmen of such 
town. 

Rights of licensee. 

Section 108. The licensee, his heirs and 
assigns shall, for the purposes aforesaid, have the 
exclusive use of the waters, flats and creeks 



FISH LAWS. 51 



described in the license during the time therein 
specified; and may, in an action of tort, recover 
treble damages of any person who, without his or 
their consent, digs or takes oysters or oyster 
shells from such waters, flats or creeks during the 
continuance of the license; and whoever digs or 
takes oysters or oyster shells therefrom without 
such consent shall also forfeit twenty dollars for 
each offence. 

Revocation of license. 

Section 109. If the licensee fails for two 
years after the license has been granted to plant 
and grow oysters or to plant oyster shells in the 
waters, flats or creeks described in the license, it 
shall be revoked by the officers who granted it 
and the revocation shall be recorded by the city 
or town clerk. 

Prohibition of night fishing. 

Section 110. No person shall dig, take or 
carry away any oysters or oyster shells between 
one hour after sunset and one hour before sun- 
rise, by any method whatever, from any waters, 
flats or creeks for which a license has been granted 
under the provisions of section one hundred and 
four. A licensee who violates the provisions of 
this chapter relative to the planting and growing 
of oysters or the planting of oyster shells, shall, 
in addition to the penalties hereinafter provided, 
forfeit his license and the oysters remaining on 
the licensed premises. 

Penalties. 

Section 111. Whoever violates the provisions 
of the preceding section, or whoever, without the 
consent of the licensee, digs or takes any oysters 
or oyster shells from any waters, flats or creeks 
described in any license granted under the pro- 
visions of section one hundred and four, during 
the continuance of such license, shall be punished 



52 FISH LAWS. 



by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars 
or by imprisonment for not less than thirty days 
nor more than six months, or by both such fine 
and imprisonment. 

Trespass forbidden. 

Section 112. Whoever works a dredge, 
oyster tongs or rakes, or any other implement for 
the taking of shellfish of any description, upon 
any oyster grounds or beds, other than public 
grounds or beds, without the consent of the 
licensee, lessee or owner thereof, or whoever, 
while upon or sailing over any such grounds or 
beds, casts, hauls, or has overboard any such 
dredge, tongs, rake or other implement for the 
taking of shellfish of any description, under any 
pretence or for any purpose whatever, without 
the consent of the licensee, lessee or owner, shall, 
for the first offence, be punished by a fine of not 
more than twenty dollars or by imprisonment for 
not more than thirty days, and for each subse- 
quent offence, by a fine of not more than fifty 
dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six 
months. 

Pollution. 

Section 113. The state board of health may 
examine all complaints which may be brought to 
its notice relative to the contamination of tidal 
waters and flats in this commonwealth by sewage 
or other causes, may determine, as nearly as may 
be, the bounds of such contamination, and, if 
necessary, mark such bounds. It may also, in 
writing, request the commissioners on fisheries 
and game to prohibit the taking from such con- 
taminated waters and flats of any oysters, clams, 
quahaugs and scallops. Upon receipt of such 
request, said commissioners shall prohibit the 
taking of such shellfish from such contaminated 
waters or flats for such period of time as the state 
board of health may prescribe. 



FISH LAWS. 53 



Acts of 1907, Chap. 285. 

The taking from contaminated waters of clams 
and quahaugs for bait. 

Section 1. Whenever, upon the request of 
the state board of health under the provisions of 
section one hundred and thirteen of chapter 
ninety-one of the Revised Laws, the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game have prohibited or 
may hereafter prohibit the taking from con- 
taminated waters or flats in any city or town of 
any clams or quahaugs, the board of health of 
such city or town may grant permits in writing 
to any person to take from such waters clams or 
quahaugs to be used for bait only, and in such 
quantities and upon such conditions as they shall 
express in their permit. 

Section 2. Any person holding a permit from 
the board of health of a city or town shall keep 
in his possession, and on his person, while acting 
thereunder, any permit obtained by him from 
said board of health, and shall at all times dis- 
play the same upon the request of any person 
authorized to enforce the provisions of this act. 
Violation of this section shall be punished by a 
fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars, and in addition the permit shall be 
revoked and shall not thereafter be issued within 
twelve months. 

Section 3. Any person who violates any of 
the provisions of such permit shall forfeit the 
permit and shall be punished by a fine not ex- 
ceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprison- 
ment for a term not exceeding three months, or 
by both such fine and imprisonment. 

Section 4. Whoever sells, or exchanges, or 
exposes or offers for sale or exchange, or buys any 
clams or quahaugs, taken under the provisions of 
this act, shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment 
for a term not exceeding three months, or by 
both such fine and imprisonment. 



54 FISH LAWS. 



Penalties. 

Section 114. Whoever takes any oysters, 
clams, quahaugs or scallops from tidal waters or 
flats from which the taking has been prohibited 
as provided in the preceding section shall forfeit 
not less than five nor more than ten dollars for 
the first offence, and not less than fifty nor more 
than one hundred dollars for each subsequent 
offence; but such penalties shall not be incurred 
until one week after the commissioners on 
fisheries and game shall have caused notice of 
such prohibition, with a description, or the 
bounds, of the tidal waters or flats to which such 
prohibition applies, to be published in a news- 
paper published in the town or county in which 
or adjacent to which the tidal waters or flats to 
which such prohibition applies are situated. 

Shellfish for bait. 

Section 115. No person shall take from the 
towns of Chatham, Nantucket, Barnstable or 
Mashpee any shellfish for bait or other use, except 
clams and a shellfish commonly known by the 
name of horsefeet; and no quantity exceeding 
seven bushels of clams, including the shells, or 
one hundred horsefeet, shall be taken in one 
week for each vessel or craft, nor, in any case, 
unless a permit has first been obtained from the 
selectmen of the town. 

Acts of 1903, Chap. 216. 
Protection of shellfish, Edgartown. 

Section 1. No person shall take any shellfish 
from their beds or wilfully obstruct the growth 
of any shellfish within the town of Edgartown, 
except as is hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. The selectmen of said town may 
give permits in writing to any person to take 
shellfish from their beds within said town, at such 
times, in such quantities, and for such uses, as 
they shall deem expedient. But any inhabitant 



FISH LA WS. 55 



of said town may without such permit take from 
the beds in said town shellfish for the use of his 
family, not exceeding in quantity one bushel, 
including shells, in any one day; and any fisher- 
man may without such permit take shellfish from 
the said beds for bait for his own use, not exceed- 
ing in quantity one bushel, including shells, in 
any one day. 

Section 3. No person shall take from their 
beds in said town, or sell or offer for sale, or have 
in his possession, any little neck clams or qua- 
haugs measuring less than one and one half 
inches across the widest part. 

Section 4. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than ten nor more than one hundred dollars. 

Section 5 The district court of Dukes 
County shall have concurrent jurisdiction with 
the superior court of all offences under this act. 

Section 6. So much of section eighty-five of 
chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws as is 
inconsistent herewith shall not apply to the town 
of Edgartown. 

REGULATION OF FISH WEIRS, NETS, 
PURSE AND SWEEP SEINES. 
Authority to construct. 

Section 116. The mayor and aldermen of a 
city and the selectmen of a town lying upon tide 
water, except cities and towns bordering on 
Buzzard's bay, may in writing authorize any per- 
son to construct weirs, pound nets or fish traps 
in said waters within the limits of such city or 
town for a term not exceeding five years, if such 
wiers, pound nets or fish traps do not obstruct 
navigation or encroach on the rights of other 
persons. 

Penalty for injury. 

Section 117. Whoever wilfully destroys or 
injures any such weir, pound net or fish trap, or 
takes fish therefrom without the consent of the 



56 FISH LAWS. 



owner, shall forfeit not more than twenty dollars 
to the use of the owner, and shall be liable in an 
action to the person injured. 

Penalty for non-authorized construction. 

Section 118. Whoever constructs or main- 
tains a weir, pound net or fish trap in tide water 
without the authority mentioned in section one 
hundred and sixteen, or from an island in tide 
water without authority in writing from the 
mayor and aldermen of every city and the select- 
men of every town which is distant not over two 
miles from said island, shall forfeit ten dollars 
for each day he maintains such weir, pound net 
or fish trap ; and he may be indicted therefor and 
enjoined therefrom. 

Statistical returns of fishing. 

Section 119. The owner of every pound net, 
weir, fyke net or similar contrivance, of every 
fishing pier, seine, drag or gill net, lobster pot or 
trap used in any of the waters of this common- 
wealth for fishing purposes, shall annually, on or 
before the twentieth day of October, make a 
written report, under oath, to the commissioners 
of the number of pounds and the value of each 
kind of edible fish caught by his pound net, weir, 
fyke net or similar contrivance, pier, seme, drag 
or gill net, and the number and value of lobsters 
taken by him in pots or traps, during the year 
last preceding the date of said report, and the 
number and value of the devices used in such 
catching or taking, and the number of persons em- 
ployed therein; and for such purpose, the com- 
missioners shall annually, on or before the fif- 
teenth day of March, provide him, upon his 
application, with suitable blank forms for such 
reports, so arranged that each month's catch may 
be separately recorded thereon; and, in filling 
out such reports, such owner shall give the results 
of each month's fishing, so far as may be prac- 
ticable. Such owner shall apply to the commis- 



FISH LAWS. 57 



sioners for such blank forms. The owner of any 
cars or other contrivances used for keeping 
lobsters shall have his name and residence legibly- 
marked thereon. Whoever knowingly and wil- 
fully violates the provisions of this section shall 
be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor 
more than one hundred dollars. 

Close time for net fishing. 

Section 120. Subject to the provisions of the 
two following sections, no person shall, from the 
first day of May to the fifteenth day of June, set, 
or permit to remain set, a fish pound, weir, trap, 
fyke or similar fixed apparatus for catching fish, 
except gill nets, between the hours of six o'clock 
on Saturday morning and six o'clock on Sunday 
evening, so as to catch fish in the tidal waters of 
the counties of Dukes County or Bristol, of the 
towns of Mattapoisett, Marion or Wareham, of 
the westerly boundaries _ of Bourne and Fal- 
mouth at and near Buzzard's bay, or of that por- 
tion of the southerly boundary of the county of 
Barnstable extending from the southwesterly 
corner of the town of Falmouth easterly to Point 
Gammon in the town of Yarmouth. Whoever 
violates the provisions of this section shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than one hundred 
nor more than two hundred dollars; but all 
prosecutions under this section shall be com- 
menced within three months after the commis- 
sion of the offence. 

Traps prohibited in Buzzard's bay. 

Section 121. Whoever sets, uses or main- 
tains any trap, weir, pound, yard or other sta- 
tionary apparatus of any kind for the taking of 
fish in the waters of Buzzard's bay or in any har- 
bor, cove or bight thereof shall be punished by a 
fine of not less than one hundred nor more than 
five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not 
more than six months. 



58 FISH LA WS. 



Nets prohibited in Buzzard's bay. 

Section 122. No person shall draw, set, 
stretch or use "any drag net, set net or gill net, 
purse or sweep seine of any kind for taking fish 
in the waters of Buzzard's bay or in any harbor, 
cove or bight thereof within the jurisdiction of 
this commonwealth. Whoever violates, or aids 
or abets in the violation of, the provisions of this 
section shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than two hundred dollars for each offence. 

Penalties. 

Section 123. A net or seine which is used in 
violation of the provisions of the preceding sec- 
tion and a boat, craft or fishing apparatus which 
is employed in such illegal use, and all fish found 
therewith, shall be forfeited. An inhabitant of a 
town bordering on said bay may seize and detain 
for not more than forty-eight hours any net or 
seine found in use in violation of the provisions 
of the preceding section, and any boat, craft, 
fishing apparatus and fish found therewith, so 
that they may be seized and libelled. 

"When nets are nuisances. 

Section 124. All nets and seines in actual use 
which are set or stretched in violation of the pro- 
visions of sections one hundred and twenty-two 
and one hundred and twenty-eight are declared 
to be common nuisances. 

Fishing rights in Buzzard's bay. 

Section 125. The provisions of the four pre- 
ceding sections shall not affect the corporate 
rights of any fishing company situated on Buz- 
zard's bay, nor the use of nets or seines in law- 
ful fisheries for shad or alewives in influent 
streams of said bay. 



FISH LAWS. 59 



Limits of Buzzard's bay. 

Section 126. In the statutes of this common- 
wealth the term "waters of Buzzard's bay" shall 
be deemed to mean the body of water commonly 
known as Buzzard's bay and extending south- 
westerly to a line drawn from Cuttyhunk light- 
house to the southerly extremity of Gooseberry 
neck in the town of Westport. 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1905, CHAP. 281. 

Restrictions, Edgartown and Cottage City. 1 

Section 127. Whoever sets or uses or aids in 
setting or using any seine, mesh net or gill net for 
the purpose of catching any other fish than mack- 
erel, or by such means catches and retains any 
other fish than mackerel, in the waters of the 
towns of Edgartown and Cottage City 1 within 
three miles from the shores thereof, may, upon 
view of the offence by any of the commissioners 
on fisheries and game or their deputies, or any 
officers qualified to serve criminal process or mem- 
ber of the district police, be arrested without 
warrant and prosecuted by him; and on con- 
viction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not 
more than two hundred dollars, and, in the dis- 
cretion of the court, shall forfeit to the common- 
wealth all fish taken in said nets. The pro- 
visions of this section shall not affect the rights 
of any persons mentioned in section twenty-three 
or the corporate rights of any fishing company; 
nor shall they prevent the inhabitants of said 
towns from taking menhaden for bait for their 
own use in the waters of their respective towns in 
the months of July, August, September and Octo- 
ber. 

Section 2. This act shall not restrict or affect 
the authority granted by chapter three hundred 
and one of the acts of the year nineteen hundred 

1 Now Oak Bluffs. 



6 FISH LAWS. 



and four to the selectmen of the town of Edgar- 
town to issue certain permits for the taking of 
bait. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 301. 
Prohibits the taking of fish by nets and seines in 
the waters of Barnstable and Mashpee on Nan- 
tucket sound. 

Section 1. After the passage of this act no 
person shall draw, set, stretch or use any purse or 
sweep seine of any kind, except as is herein- 
after provided, for taking fish anywhere in the 
waters of the towns of Barnstable or Mashpee on 
Nantucket Sound, so-called, northerly of or 
within a straight line extended from Point Gam- 
mon to Succonessett Point; nor in any bay, har- 
bor cove or bight of said waters, nor in any inlet 
or stream flowing into the same: provided, how- 
ever, that nothing herein contained shall be so 
construed as to forbid or make unlawful the 
catching of menhaden or other small fish for bait 
purposes, nor the use of nets for the taking of 
herring, nor the use of dredges or drag nets for 
the taking of scallops. . . 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act, or aids or assists in so doing, shall be 
punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars 
nor more than five hundred dollars for each 
offence, or by imprisomnent for a term not ex- 
ceeding six months. . 

Section 3. Any net, seine or movable device 
for catching fish used in violation of any pro- 
vision of this act, together with any boat, cralt, 
vessel, steamer or fishing apparatus employed in 
such illegal use, and any fish found therewith are 
hereby declared to be public nuisances and for- 
feited; and it shall be lawful for any inhabitant 
of said Barnstable or Mashpee, or any constable, 
police officer or deputy sheriff in the Common- 
wealth, to seize and detain, without warrant, tor 
a period not exceeding forty-eight hours, any 
such net, seine or movable device, boat, cralt, 



FISH LAWS. 61 



vessel, steamer or fishing apparatus found in use 
contrary to the provisions of this act, and any- 
fish found therewith, to the end that the same 
may be libelled, if necessary, by due process of 
law. District courts and trial justices shall have 
concurrent jurisdiction with the superior court 
of all offences and proceedings under the pro- 
visions of this act, regardless of the value of the 
property libelled. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 118. 
Restrictions, Pleasant bay, Orleans. 

Section 1. No purse or sweep seines, set nets 
or gill nets, for the taking of fish shall be set, 
drawn, used or maintained in the waters of 
Pleasant bay or its tributaries in the town of 
Orleans; but nothing herein contained shall be 
construed to forbid or make unlawful the main- 
taining of traps, pounds or weirs under licenses 
granted in accordance with section one hundred 
and sixteen of chapter ninety-one of the Revised 
Laws. 

Section 2. Any person who shall set, draw, 
use or maintain a purse or sweep seine, set net or 
gill net in violation of this act shall be punished 
by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more 
than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for 
a term not exceeding six months. 

Section 3. Chapter one hundred and sixty- 
three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and 
one is hereby repealed. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 298. 

Restrictions, Westport. 

Section 128. Whoever draws, sets, stretches 
or uses any net, purse or seine of any kind for 
taking fish in the waters of Westport river be- 
tween the first day of May and the first day of 
November shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not 



62 FISH LAWS. 



more than three months, or by both such fine and 
imprisonment; and it shall be the duty of every 
officer designated in section four of this chapter 
to seize fish killed contrary to the provisions of 
this chapter and to report the seizure to the com- 
missioners on fisheries and game, who shall 
authorize the sale of such fish; and the proceeds 
of any such sale, after paying the expenses 
thereof, shall be paid into the treasury of the 
commonwealth. 

Section 2. Section one hundred and twenty- 
nine of said chapter ninety-one is hereby repealed. 

Fish wardens, Westport. 

Section 130. The town of Westport shall at 
each annual town election choose by ballot for a 
term of three years a person who shall be sworn 
to enforce the provisions of section one hundred 
and twenty-eight. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 319. 
Fish wardens, Edgartown. 

The town of Edgartown is hereby authorized 
to choose at any annual town meeting, or at any 
meeting duly called for the purpose, fish wardens, 
in such number and with such compensation as 
the town may determine, who shall be sworn to 
the faithful discharge of their duty, which shall 
be to enforce the fishery laws in that town; and 
for this purpose the fish wardens so chosen shall 
have the powers which the district police now 
have or shall hereafter have for the enforcement 
of the fishery laws of the commonwealth. 

Acts of 1904, Chap. 301. 
Regarding eel bait, Edgartown. 

Section 1. The selectmen of the town of 
Edgartown, or any two of them, may issue to any 
inhabitant of said town holding a permit for the 
taking of eels by means of pots, permits for 



FISH LAWS. 63 



the taking of bait for his own use only from the 
waters of said town by means of nets or seines. 
Such permits shall not be issued for the use of nets 
or seines more than one hundred and fifty feet 
long, or of a size of mesh of more than three 
fourths of an inch, and shall be issued for the 
taking of such bait only between the first day of 
June and the fifteenth day of December in each 
year. The provisions of this act shall not affect 
the rights of the persons designated in section 
twenty-three of chapter ninety-one of the Re- 
vised Laws, or the corporate rights of any fishing 
company. 

Section 2. So much of section one hundred 
and twenty-seven of chapter ninety-one of the 
Revised Laws and of any other act as is incon- 
sistent herewith is hereby repealed. 

GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
Penalty for robbing pots, trawls, etc. 

Section 131. Whoever takes any fish or 
lobster from a trap, trawl or seine net for catching 
fish or lobsters, without the consent of the owner 
thereof, and whoever wilfully molests or inter- 
feres with such trap, trawl or seine, shall, for the 
first offence, be punished by a fine of not less than 
five nor more than twenty-five dollars or by im- 
prisonment for thirty days, or by both such fine 
and imprisonment; and for any subsequent 
offence, by a fine of not less than twenty nor more 
than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for sixty 
days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1908, CHAP. 492. 

Apparatus for fresh water fishing. 

Section 132. Whoever takes any fish which 
at any season frequent fresh water, except as 
otherwise allowed in this chapter, in any other 
manner than by artificially or naturally baited 
hook and hand line, shall forfeit not less than 



64 FISH LAWS. 



five nor more than fifty dollars; but towns may 
permit the use of nets and seines for taking 
herring and alewives; and nothing in this act 
shall be construed to prohibit the spearing of that 
species of fish commonly known as "suckers." 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1903, CHAP. 246. 

For the better protection of fish. 

Section 133. Whoever puts or throws into 
any waters for the purpose of taking or destroying 
fish therein any poisonous substance, simple, 
mixed or compound, or whoever kills or destroys 
fish by the use of dynamite or other explosive, or 
explodes dynamite or powder in fishing waters, 
shall forfeit ten dollars for each offence: pro- 
vided, however, that the provisions of this act 
shall not apply to operations of the federal gov- 
ernment, of the state government, or of any 
municipal government in this commonwealth, 
nor to the use of explosives for raising the body of 
a drowned person. 

Shellfish constables. 

Section 134. The mayor and aldermen of a 
city or the selectmen of a town may designate 
one or more constables for the detection and 
prosecution of any violation of the laws of the 
commonwealth relative to shell fisheries. Such 
constables may arrest without warrant any per- 
son found violating such laws, and detain him for 
prosecution not more than twenty-four hours; 
and may seize any boat or vessel used in such 
violation, and her tackle, apparel and furniture 
and implements, which shall be forfeited. 

Time of prosecutions. 

Section 135. Actions and prosecutions under 
the laws relative to fisheries shall, unless other- 
wise expressly provided, be commenced within 
one year after the time when the cause of action 
accrued or the offence was committed. 



FISH LAWS. 65 



Duties of municipal officers, etc. 

Section 136. The mayor and aldermen of 
cities, the selectmen of towns, police officers and 
constables shall cause the provisions of sections 
sixty-three, seventy-one and seventy-two to be 
enforced in their respective cities and towns. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 330. 

Disposition of fines recovered in prosecutions under 
the laws relating to fisheries, birds, animals and 
game. 

Section 1. All fines, penalties and forfeitures 
recovered in prosecutions under the laws relative 
to fisheries or to birds, animals and game, except 
as provided in section eighty-eight of chapter 
ninety-one of the Revised Laws, as amended by 
section one of chapter three hundred and three 
of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and 
seven, shall be equally divided between the 
county in which such prosecution is made and 
the commonwealth: provided, however, that if 
the plaintiff is a deputy appointed by the com- 
missioners on fisheries and game and is receiving 
compensation from the commonwealth, such 
fines, penalties and forfeitures shall be paid into 
the treasury of the commonwealth 

Section 2. Section one hundred and thirty- 
seven of chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws 
and section twenty of chapter ninety-two of the 
Revised Laws, as amended by chapter four 
hundred and forty-five of the acts of the year 
nineteen hundred and five and by chapter three 
hundred of the acts of the year nineteen hundred 
and seven, are hereby repealed. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its 
passage. 

Special statutes not repealed. 

Section 138. The provisions of this chapter 
shall not repeal or affect any provisions or penal- 



66 FISH LAWS. 



ties contained or any privileges granted in any- 
special statutes relating to fisheries in particular 
places. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 76. 
The bounty on seals abolished. 

Section 1. Section one hundred and thirty- 
nine of chapter ninety-one of the Revised Laws, 
establishing a bounty for killing seals, is hereby 
repealed. 

KELP AND SEAWEED. 

Section 140. Any person may take and 
carry away kelp or other seaweed between high 
and low water mark while it is actually adrift in 
tide waters ; but for such purpose no person shall 
enter on upland or on lawfully enclosed flats 
without the consent of the owner or lawful occu- 
pant thereof. The provisions of this section 
shall not apply to any city or town in which the 
subject matter thereof is regulated by special 
laws. 



GAM E LAW S. 

Revised Laws, Chap. 92. 

Acts of 1905, Chap. 317, as amended by Acts of 1908, 
Chap. 402. 

Unnaturalized, foreign born persons must procure 

license to hunt. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any un- 
naturalized, foreign born person to hunt, pursue, 
trap or kill any wild bird or quadruped anywhere 
within the limits of the commonwealth, unless 
he is licensed so to do as hereinafter provided. 

Section 2. City and town clerks shall, upon 
the application of any unnaturalized, foreign born 
person who is a resident of the city or town in 
which the application is made, and upon the 
payment of a fee of fifteen dollars, issue to such 
person a license, upon a form to be supplied by 
the commissioners on fisheries and game-, bearing 
the name, age and place of residence of the li- 
censee, with a description of him, as near as may 
be, and authorizing the said licensee to hunt and 
to kill game on any lands in which such hunting 
or killing is not forbidden by law or by written 
or printed notices posted thereon by the owner, 
lessee or occupant thereof. Such license shall be 
good only for that period of the year when game 
may lawfully be killed, and shall authorize the 
hunting or killing of game only under such re- 
strictions and for such purposes as are imposed 
or authorized by law. The said license shall not 
be transferable, shall expire on the thirty-first 
day of December of the year of issue, and shall 
be exhibited upon demand to any of the com- 
missioners on fisheries and game or their depu- 
ties, and to any game warden or deputy game 
warden, and to any sheriff, constable, police 
officer or other officer qualified to serve process. 
The fees received for the said licenses shall an- 



68 GAME LA WS. 



tiually be paid into the treasury of the common- 
wealth. 

Section 3. A License granted hereunder shall 
be revoked by the city or (own clerk issuing the 
same in case the licensee is convicted of a viola- 
i ion of I lie fish and game Laws, <»r of hunt ing upon 
Sunday in violal ion of Law. 

Section I. It shall be the duty of the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game, upon request by 
any city or town clerk, to supply such clerk witn 
license forms prepared in accordance with the 
pn>\ isions of I his acl , 

Section •'>. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall he punished by a hue of not less 
t ban ten nor more t ban fifty dollars. 

Lots of L907, Chap. LQ8. 
Non-resident banters must procure licenses bo 

huiil . 

Section L. If any person, not a bona fide 
resident of this commonwealth and actually 

domiciled therein for a period of six months, 
shall hunt, pursue Or kill, within the limits of t his 

commonwealth, any wild animal, wild fowl or 
bird without having first procured of the com- 
missioners on fisheries and game m License to so 
hunt, pursue or kill, us hereinafter provided, he 

shall he fined, for each offence, a sum not <\ 
Ceeding fifty dollars, or he imprisoned for a term 

not exceeding thirty days, <>r shall suffer both 

such line and imprisonment; and the Same pen- 
all ies shall he imposed upon any such person w ho 
shall he convieled of so hunting, pursuing or 
killing such wild animal, wild fowl or bird on a 
license which has been issued in the name of 
anol her person. 

Section 2. For the purposes of this act. any 

resident Of another state who owns real estate 
Situated within this commonweal! h which is 
assessed for taxation at a value of not less than 
five hundred dollars shall have the right to hunt 
wit bout a license. 



GAME LA ns. 69 



Section 3. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game may, upon application therefor, issue 

a license to a non-resident wliieti shall entitle 
silrli person to the privileges enjoyed by resi<|ents 

of this commonwealth as to the hunting and 
killing of all wild animals, wild fowl or birds. 

Such license shall be recorded in detail in hooks 

kept- lor that purpose, shall not he transferable 
nor available to any person other than the one 
named therein, shall be valid and in force only 
during the calendar year in which it is issued and 
dated, and shall entitle the licensee to hunt and 
kill only during the respective periods of the year 

when it is lawful for residents to SO hunt and kill. 
Such license shall stale the name, age, color of 
hair and eyes, and residence of the applicant. 

Section 4. No license shall be valid unless 
the signature of the person to whom it is issued 

is written thereon, ;ind every such person shall at 

all times when hunting carry his License on his 
person, and shall at all reasonable times and as 
often lis requested produce mid show such License 
to any person requesting him so to do, and if he 
fails or refuses so to do he shall forfeit I he License 
and he deemed to he hunting in violation of the 
provisions of this net. 
Section 5. Bach non-resident hunting license 

shall entitle the licensee to carry from the com- 
monwealth not more than six wild fowl or birds 
of all kinds, the exportation of which is pro- 
hibited by Law, in any one calendar year: pro- 
vided, (-hat the owner thereof shall carry them 
open to view for inspection, snail present his 
license for inspection upon demand, and shall 
have informed, by Letter or otherwise, the com- 
missioner who issued (he license as to the num- 
ber and kinds of wild fowl or birds which he 

intends to carry from the commonwealth. Who- 
ever violates any provision of this section shall be 
lined not more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned 
for not more than thirty days, or shall suffer both 

such line and imprisonment. 



70 GAME LAWS. 



Section 6. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game, and the detectives in their employ, 
shall have the right, after demand and refusal 
or failure to exhibit any such license, to arrest 
without warrant any non-resident person or per- 
sons found hunting, pursuing or killing any wild 
animal, wild fowl or bird, and for the purpose of 
this arrest any person who shall refuse to state 
his name and place of residence on demand of 
such officer shall be deemed a non-resident. 

Section 7. The fee for the license aforesaid 
shall be ten dollars, except as hereinafter pro- 
vided, and the money so received by the said 
commissioners shall be turned over to the treas- 
urer and receiver general. The fee for said 
license shall be one dollar to any non-resident 
member of any club, organization or association 
incorporated at the time of the passage of this 
act for the purposes of hunting or fishing, if such 
club, organization or association owns real estate 
in this commonwealth which is assessed therein 
for taxation at a valuation of not less than one 
thousand dollars. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 4S-4. 
The Registration of hunters. 

Section 1. No citizen of the United States 
resident in Massachusetts shall hunt, pursue, 
take, or kill any bird or quadruped protected by 
law without first having obtained a certificate of 
registration as hereinafter provided: provided, 
however, that nothing in this act shall be con- 
strued as affecting in any way the provisions 
of the general laws relating to trespass, or as 
authorizing the hunting, pursuing, taking, wound- 
ing, or killing, or the possession of birds or quad- 
rupeds contrary to any laws now or hereinafter in 
force, nor shall the possession of such certificate 
of registration grant or confer any privilege not 
enjoyed prior to the passage of this act. 

Section 2. The clerk of any city or town shall, 



GAME LAWS. 71 



upon the application of any such bona fide resi- 
dent citizen and the payment of the registration 
fee and recording fee hereinafter provided, issue 
to such person a certificate in the form prescribed 
and upon blanks furnished by the commissioners 
on fisheries and game, which certificate shall bear 
the name, age, occupation, place of residence, 
signature and an identifying description of the 
person thus registered, and shall authorize the 
person so registered to hunt game birds and game 
quadrupeds during the period when the same, 
respectively, may lawfully be killed, and at no 
other time, and only subject to the restrictions 
and conditions as provided by law. Said certifi- 
cates shall be valid until January first next fol- 
lowing the date of issue and no longer, shall not 
be transferable, and shall be produced for ex- 
amination upon demand of any commissioner of 
fisheries and game, or their deputies or upon 
demand of any sheriff, constable, police officer, 
or other officer authorized to arrest for crime, 
or of the owner or lessee in actual occupancy of 
any land upon which such registered person may 
be found. Failure or refusal to produce said cer- 
tificate upon such demand shall be prima facie 
evidence of a violation of this act. 

Section 3. Every citizen of the United States 
who is a bona fide resident of this state shall pay 
for such certificate a fee of one dollar: provided, 
however, that this act shall not apply to any such 
citizen who is a bona fide resident on land owned 
or leased by him and on which he is actually 
domiciled, which land is used exclusively for 
agricultural purposes, and not for club or shoot- 
ing purposes. 

Section 4. Every city and town clerk shall 
keep a record of all such certificates issued by 
him, which record shall be open to inspection by 
all officers authorized to make arrests, and by the 
state treasurer and the state auditor or their 
agents, and by the commissioners on fisheries and 
game and their deputies; and such clerk shall, 



GAME LAWS. 



on the first Monday in every month, pay to the 
state treasurer all money received by him for 
such certificates issued during the month pre- 
ceding. 

Section 5. Any person who shall violate any 
provision of this act shall be fined not less than 
ten nor more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned 
for not more than thirty days, or shall be pun- 
ished by both such fine and imprisonment; and 
the certificate of any person who shall be con- 
victed of a violation of any law relating to 
birds or quadrupeds, or of any provision of this 
act, shall be void, and such person shall not 
receive a certificate during the period of one year 
from the date of such conviction. 

Section 6. This act shall take effect on the 
first day of January in the year nineteen hundred 
and nine. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1904, CHAP. 176. 

Lord's day close season. 

Section 1. The Lord's day shall be close sea- 
son. Whoever hunts or destroys birds, wild 
animals or game of any kind on the Lord's day 
shall be liable to a penalty of not less than ten 
nor more than twenty dollars in addition to any 
penalties for taking, killing or having in posses- 
sion birds, wild animals or game protected by law. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 441. 
Ruffed grouse, woodcock and quail. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful, between the 
first day of November and the first day of Octo- 
ber following, to hunt, pursue, take or kill a 
ruffed grouse, commonly called partridge, a 
woodcock, or a quail, or to have the same, or 
any part thereof, in possession, whenever or 
wherever the bird may have been taken or killed. 

Section 2. It shall be unlawful to buy, sell, 
offer for sale or otherwise dispose of at any time 
any of the above mentioned birds, or any part 



GAME LAWS. 73 



thereof, whenever or wherever such bird may- 
have been taken or killed: provided, however, g 
that a person, firm or corporation dealing in" 
game, or engaged in the cold storage business, 
may buy, sell or have in possession, and a person 
may buy from such person, firm or corporation, 
and may have in possession if so bought, quail 
from the first day T of November to the first day of 
January following, if such quail or parts thereof 
were not taken in this commonwealth, and were 
not taken, killed, bought, sold or otherwise dis- 
posed of or transported contrary to the laws of 
any state or country. And a person, firm or cor- 
poration dealing in game or engaged in the cold 
storage business may have quail in possession in 
cold storage for storage purposes, at any season, 
if such quail were not taken or killed in this com- 
monwealth, and were not taken, killed, bought, 
sold or otherwise procured or disposed of, or 
transported contrary to the laws of the state or 
country in which the quail were taken, killed, 
or transported; provided, however, that such per- 
sons, firms or corporations shall have notified in 
writing the commissioners on fisheries and game 
on or before January first in each year, of the 
species, number of each species, and place of 
storage of such birds, and that such birds are in 
places and packages convenient for sealing, and 
that the packages are plainly marked with the 
name and number of the birds therein. The 
commissioners or their deputies shall then place a 
seal upon all receptacles and packages containing 
any species of quail. The said seal shall not be 
removed by any person other than the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game or their deputies, 
and shall be removed by the said commissioners 
or their deputies upon the first day of November 
of each year. The packages so sealed shall not 
be opened or removed from that storage ware- 
house under a penalty of twenty dollars for each 
bird. But any person, firm or corporation hold- 
ing a permit from the commissioners on fisheries 



74 GAME LAWS. 



and game may buy, sell, or have in possession 
.live quail for purposes of propagation within the 
commonwealth, and for no other purpose. 

Section 3. Whoever violates any provision of 
this act shall be punished by a fine of twenty dol- 
lars for each bird or part thereof, in respect to 
which the violation occurs. The possession, ex- 
cept as provided above, of quail during the season 
when taking, killing, or sale is prohibited by law 
shall be prima facie evidence that the person 
having possession has violated some provision of 
this act. 

Section 4. Section two of chapter ninety-two 
of the Revised Laws, as amended by chapter two 
hundred and six of the acts of the year nineteen 
hundred and three, and chapter three hundred 
and three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred 
and six are hereby repealed. 

Acts of 1905, Chap. 122. 

The protection of quail on the island of Nan- 
tucket. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to take, kill 
or have in possession any quail on the island of 
Nantucket at any time within three years after 
the first day of March in the year nineteen hun- 
dred and five. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provisions 
or this act shall be punished by a fine of twenty 
dollars for every quail taken, killed or had in 
possession contrary to the provisions hereof. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 118. 
The protection of loons and eagles. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to hunt, cap- 
ture, wound or kill a loon in or upon fresh water, 
or an eagle in any place. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of twenty 
dollars. 



GAME LAWS. 75 



Acts of 1906, Chap. 141. 

To prevent the extermination of the heath hen, 
so called. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to hunt, take 
or kill that species of pinnated grouse commonly 
called heath hen, and scientifically known as 
Tympanuchus cupido, or to buy, sell, or otherwise 
dispose of, or have in possession the same or any 
part thereof, previous to the first day of Novem- 
ber in the year nineteen hundred and eleven. 

Section 2. So much of section four of chapter 
ninety-two of the Revised Laws as is inconsistent 
herewith is hereby repealed. 

Section 3. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of one hun- 
dred dollars for each bird or part thereof in 
respect to which such violation occurs. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect five days 
after its passage. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 504. 

Authorizes the taking of certain unimproved land 
upon the island of Martha's Vineyard for the 
protection of pinnated grouse and other birds. 
Section 1. The commissioners on fisheries 
and game are hereby authorized to take, or re- 
ceive as a gift, or lease, for and in the name of the 
commonwealth such unimproved lands on the 
island of Martha's Vineyard, not exceeding one 
thousand acres, and such other property as they 
may deem necessary for the purpose of making 
fire stops for the protection from fire of the feed- 
ing and breeding grounds of the pinnated grouse, 
or of otherwise securing the maintenance and 
increase of the said birds, or of any other species 
of wild birds upon said island; and the control 
and use of the lands or other property so acquired 
or leased, or of any land or property otherwise 
placed under the temporary or permanent con- 
trol of said commissioners for the said purposes 
shall be vested in said commissioners, and the 



GAME LAWS. 



provisions of chapter three hundred and twenty- 
seven of the acts of the year nineteen hundred 
and six shall apply thereto. 

Section 2. Said commissioners shall, within 
thirty days after taking any land under this act, 
file and cause to be recorded in the office of the 
register of deeds for the county of Dukes County 
at Edgartown, a certificate describing by metes 
and bounds the land so taken, stating the names 
of the owners, so far as they may be known, and 
also stating the purpose of such taking as here- 
inbefore specified. Said plan and certificate 
shall be signed by said commissioners, or by a 
majority of them. 

Section 3. Any person sustaining damages 
by the taking of land as herein provided, who 
fails to agree with said commissioners as to the 
amount thereof, may, on application at any time 
within one year after the taking of such land, 
have the same assessed and determined in the 
manner provided by law in the case of land taken 
for the laying out of highways. 

Section 4. In any proceeding for the re- 
covery of damages hereunder, said commissioners 
may offer in court and may consent in writing 
that the sum therein specified may be awarded 
to the complainant as damages, and if the com- 
plainant shall not accept the same within ten 
days after he has received notice of such offer 
and shall not finally recover a greater sum than 
that offered, not including interest on the sum 
recovered in damages from the date of the offer, 
said commissioners shall be entitled to recover 
costs after such date, and the complainant, if he 
recover damages, shall be allowed costs only to 
the date of the offer unless the damages so re- 
covered shall be in excess of the amount offered 
as aforesaid by said commissioners. 

Section 5. For the purpose of acquiring said 
lands as aforesaid, and for the preparation of said 
fire stops and for other work incidental to the 
purposes hereinbefore set forth, and for investi- 



GAME LAWS. 77 



gating and reporting upon the best methods and 
probable cost of protecting and increasing the 
colonies of birds on the island, the sum of two 
thousand dollars may be expended; and said 
commissioners may also expend in accordance 
with the provisions of this act such other sums 
as towns, associations or individuals may from 
time to time pay to the treasurer of the common- 
wealth for the said purposes. 

Acts op 1906, Chap. 304. 
An act to prohibit the sale of prairie chickens. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to buy, sell, 
or otherwise dispose of, or to have in possession, a 
prairie chicken, scientifically known as Tym- 
panuchus Americanus, and as Pedioecetes phasian- 
ellus, or any part thereof, whenever or wherever 
taken. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of twenty 
dollars for each bird or part thereof, in respect 
to which the violation occurs, and possession 
shall be prima facie evidence that the person 
having possession has violated the provisions of 
this act. 

Section 3. This act shall take effect on the 
first day of January in the year nineteen hundred 
and seven. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 274. 

An act relative to the protection of wood or 
summer duck. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful, prior to the 
first day of September in the year nineteen hun- 
dred and eleven, to hunt, capture, wound or kill 
a wood or summer duck. 

Section 2. Whoever violates the provisions 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than fifty dollars for each violation. The 
possession of any wood duck or summer duck, 
or any part thereof, shall be prima facie evidence 
of a violation of the provisions of this act 



78 GAME LAWS. 



Acts of 1906, Chap. 301. 
An act relative to ducks and teal. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to kill a black 
duck, scientifically known as Anas obscura, or a 
teal, between the first day of March and the first 
day of September following, or any species of 
wild duck, not otherwise protected by law, 
between the twentieth day of May and the first 
day of September, or to buy, sell or have in pos- 
session a black duck or teal, between the first 
day of March and the first day of September, or 
any of the wild duck species during the time 
within which the taking or killing thereof is pro- 
hibited, whenever or wherever such birds may 
have been taken or killed: provided, however, that 
any person, firm or corporation holding a permit 
from the commissioners on fisheries and game 
may buy, sell or have in possession, any species of 
duck for purposes of propagation; and pro- 
vided, further, that a person, firm or corporation 
dealing in game or engaged in the cold storage 
business may have in possession for storage any 
species of duck between the first day of March 
and the first day of September following, if such 
birds were not taken or killed in this common- 
wealth contrary to the provisions of this chapter, 
or were not taken, killed, or transported contrary 
to the law of the state or country in which such 
birds were taken or killed, and provided, that such 
persons, firms or corporations shall have notified 
in writing the commissioners on fisheries and 
game on or before March first of the species, num- 
ber of each species, and place of storage of such 
birds, and that such birds are in places and pack- 
ages convenient for sealing. The commissioners 
or their deputies shall then place a seal upon all 
receptacles and packages containing any species 
of wild duck. The said seal shall not be re- 
moved by any person other than the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game, or their deputies, 
under a penalty of twenty dollars for each bird, 



GAME LAWS. 79 



and shall be removed by the said commissioners 
or their deputies upon the first day of September 
of each year. The packages or contents thereof 
so sealed shall not be removed from that storage 
warehouse under a penalty of twenty dollars for 
each bird. 

Section 2. Section four of chapter ninety- 
two of the Revised Laws is hereby repealed^ 

Section 3. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of twenty 
dollars for each bird or part thereof, in respect 
to which the violation occurs. 

Section 4. This act shall take effect on the 
first day of January in the year nineteen hundred 
and seven. 

Acts of 1905, Chap. 273. 
Shooting wild ducks and geese in Dukes county. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful in the county 
of Dukes County for any person to shoot or kill 
wild ducks or geese in any fresh water pond from 
a boat, raft or other device located at a greater 
distance than fifty yards from the shore. 

Section 2. Any person violating any pro- 
vision of this act shall be punished by a fine of 
not less than five nor more than two hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 331. 

Pursuit and shooting of wild fowl in certain waters 

of the town of Edgartown. 

Section 1. No person shall, in or with any 
boat, hunt, chase or pursue any wild water-fowl 
in the inner harbor of Edgartown, including those 
parts known as Katama bay and Mattakessett 
bay, or in Cape Poge pond, so-called, in Edgar- 
town, or in that part of the outer harbor of Ed- 
gartown which lies southerly or easterly of a 
straight line drawn from Cape Poge lighthouse to 
and through and onward from the harbor light- 
house of Edgartown; and no person shall in or 
upon any of said waters shoot at any wild water- 



80 GAME LAWS. 



fowl from any boat unless said boat be lying at 
anchor or be stationed upon the shore or other 
land or upon or against the ice: 'provided, how- 
ever, that for the purpose of killing and securing 
any wild water-fowl just wounded by him or his 
companion, in lawful shooting, any person may 
pursue such wounded fowl with a boat, propelled 
by oar or oars only, to a distance not exceeding 
one hundred yards from the spot where the same 
was wounded, and may shoot the same from said 
boat within said distance. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision of 
this act shall be punished by a fine of not less than 
five or more than fifty dollars. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 264. 

Hunting wild ducks or geese on fresh water ponds 
in the county of Dukes county. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful in the county 
of Dukes County for any person to pursue, drive, 
hunt, injure, shoot or kill wild ducks or geese in 
any fresh water pond from a boat, raft or other 
floating device. 

Section 2. Any person violating any pro- 
vision of this act shall be punished by a fine of 
not less than five nor more than two hundred and 
fifty dollars for each offence. 

Section 3. Any acts or parts of acts incon- 
sistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

Acts of 1906, Chap. 292. 

An act to prohibit the use of live duck decoys in 
the taking or killing of black ducks in the 
county of Nantucket. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to use live 
duck decoys for the taking or killing of black 
ducks in the county of Nantucket. 

Section 2. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than twenty nor more than fifty dollars for each 
offence. 



GAME LAWS. 81 



As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1905, CHAP. 414. 

Shore, marsh and beach birds, upland plover, 

wild pigeons, gulls and terns. 

Section 5. Whoever takes or kills a plover, 
snipe, sandpiper, rail or any of the so-called shore, 
marsh or beach birds between the first day of 
March and the fifteenth day of July, a Bartramian 
sandpiper, also called upland plover, before the 
fifteenth day of July in the year nineteen hundred 
and ten, a wild or passenger pigeon, a Carolina 
or mourning dove, a gull or tern at any time, shall 
be punished by a fine of ten dollars for every bird 
so taken or killed. 

CERTAIN BIRDS SHALL NOT BE KILLED, 

CAPTURED, ETC., OR EGGS OR NEST 

DISTURBED. 

Acts of 1903, Chap. 244. 
Protection of certain marsh birds. 

Section 1. Whoever takes or kills any heron 
or bittern, or has in possession any such bird or 
part thereof, whenever or wherever taken, shall 
be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars 
for every bird so taken or killed, or bird or part 
of a bird so had in possession. 

Section 2. Nothing in this act shall prevent 
the owner or keeper of any trout pond or trout 
hatchery from killing any heron or bittern en- 
gaged in the act of destroying fish; nor shall 
anything herein contained prevent the taking or 
possession of said birds by natural history asso- 
ciations, museums, or holders of certificates 
authorizing the collection of specimens for scien- 
tific purposes. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1904, CHAP. 369. 

Shore and marsh birds can be sold only during 

open season. 

Section 6. Whoever buys, sells, exposes for 
sale, or has in possession any of the birds named 



82 GAME LAWS. 



in and protected by section five or section seven 
of this chapter, during the time within which the 
taking or killing thereof is prohibited, whenever 
or wherever such birds may have been taken or 
killed, shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars 
for each bird; but a person, firm or corporation 
dealing in game or engaged in the cold storage 
business may have in possession, for storage pur- 
poses only, the so-called shore, marsh and beach 
birds during the time within which the taking or 
killing of them is prohibited. 

R. L., Chap. 92, Sect. 7, as amended by Acts of 1907, 
Chap. 250. 

Relative to certain birds of prey. 

Section 1. Whoever takes or kills a wild or 
undomesticated bird not named in sections two, 
three, four and five, except English sparrows, 
crow blackbirds, crows, jays, the following named 
birds of prey, — sharp-shinned hawk, cooper's 
hawk, goshawk, red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered 
hawk, duck hawk, pigeon hawk, barred owl, 
great horned owl and snowy owl, — wild geese 
and fresh water and sea fowl not named in 
said sections, or wilfully destroys, disturbs or 
takes a nest or eggs of any wild or undomesti- 
cated birds, except such as are not protected by 
the provisions of this section, shall be punished 
by a fine of ten dollars for each bird taken or 
killed or each nest or egg destroyed, disturbed or 
taken contrary to the provisions of this section; 
but a person over twenty-one years of age, who 
has a certificate from the commissioners on 
fisheries and game or from the president of the 
Boston Society of Natural History that he is 
engaged in the scientific study of ornithology or 
is collecting in the interest of a scientific in- 
stitution, may at any season take or kill or take 
the nests and eggs of an undomesticated bird, 
except woodcock, ruffed grouse and quail; but 
the provisions of this section shall not authorize 



GAME LAWS. 8& 



a person to enter upon private grounds without 
the consent of the owner thereof for the purpose 
of taking nests or eggs or killing birds. Said 
commissioners or the president of said society 
may at any time revoke such certificate. 

Section 2. Section one of chapter one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven of the acts of the year 
nineteen hundred and two is hereby amended by 
striking out the words "birds of prey", in the 
fifth line, and inserting in place thereof the words: 
— the following named birds of prey, — sharp- 
shinned hawk, cooper's hawk, goshawk, red- 
tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, duck hawk, 
pigeon hawk, barred owl, great horned owl and 
snowy owl, — so as to read as follows: — Sec- 
tion 1. Whoever captures or has in possession 
a wild or undomesticated bird not named in 
sections two, three, four or five of chapter ninety- 
two of the Revised Laws, except English spar- 
rows, crow blackbirds, crows, jays, the following 
named birds of prey, — sharp-shinned hawk, 
cooper's hawk, goshawk, red-tailed hawk, red- 
shouldered hawk, duck hawk, pigeon hawk, 
barred owl, great horned owl and snowy owl, — 
wild geese and fresh water and sea fowl not 
named in said sections, and birds which are not 
found wild within the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts, shall be punished by a fine of ten dol- 
lars, but this act shall not apply to birds held in 
captivity before this act takes effect. 

Acts op 1903, Chap. 329. 
Bodies or feathers of certain birds. 

Section 1. Whoever has in possession the 
body or feathers of a bird, the taking or killing 
of which is prohibited by the provisions of the 
preceding section or of section five of this chapter 
whether taken in this commonwealth or else- 
where, or wears such feathers for the purpose of 
dress or ornament, shall be punished by a fine of 
ten dollars; but the provisions of this section 



84 GAME LAWS. 



shall not prohibit the taking or killing of such 
birds by the holders of certificates provided for 
in the preceding section, nor shall they apply to 
natural history associations or to the proprietors 
of museums, or other collections for scientific 
purposes, or to non-residents of the common- 
wealth passing through it or temporarily dwell- 
ing therein. 

Section 2. This act shall take effect on the 
first day of January in the year nineteen hundred 
and four. 

Acts of 1907, Chap. 161. 

The special game laws in Bristol county made 
uniform with the General Laws. 

Chapter three hundred and sixty-six of the 
acts of the year nineteen hundred and four is 
hereby repealed. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 284. 
Close season on gray squirrels. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful before the 
first day of October in the year nineteen hundred 
and ten to hunt, take or kill a gray squirrel, or 
to sell, or to offer for sale, or to have in possession 
for the purpose of sale, a gray squirrel taken or 
killed in Massachusetts. 

-^Section 2. This act shall not apply to the 
owner or occupant of any dwelling house or other 
building, who shall find any gray squirrel or 
squirrels doing damage to the same. 

Section 3. All acts and parts of acts incon- 
sistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

Section 4. Whoever violates any provision 
of this act shall forfeit ten dollars for each offence. 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 166. 

Squirrels, hares and rabbits (compare preceding 
section which repeals provisions of this section 
relative to squirrels) . 

Section 9. Whoever takes or kills a gray 
squirrel, between the first day of December and 
the first day of October, or a hare or rabbit be- 



GAME LAWS. 85 



tween the first day of March and the first day 
of October, or within said time, buys, sells or 
offers for sale any of said animals, shall be pun- 
ished by a fine of ten dollars; but any person, 
firm or corporation dealing in game or engaged 
in the cold storage business may buy, sell or have 
in possession, and any person may buy from such 
person, firm or corporation, and have in posses- 
sion if so bought, Colorado jack rabbits, Nova 
Scotia white or eastern white rabbits at any 
season if they have not been taken or killed in 
this commonwealth contrary to the provisions of 
this section. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 413. 
Sale of hares and rabbits legally killed. 

Section 1. It shall be lawful at any time for 
any person, firm or corporation engaged in the 
cold storage business to buy or sell hares or 
rabbits which have not been taken or killed con- 
trary to the laws of this commonwealth or of any 
other state or country. 

Section 2. All acts and parts of acts incon- 
sistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

AS AMENDED BY ACTS OP 1906, CHAP. 241. 

Use of traps, snares, ferrets, etc., illegal. 

Section 11. Whoever takes or kills a game 
bird or water fowl, hare or rabbit by means of a 
trap, net or snare, or by the use of a ferret; and 
whoever, for the purpose of taking or killing a 
game bird, water fowl, hare or rabbit, constructs 
or sets a trap, snare or net or uses a ferret; and 
whoever shoots at or kills any wild fowl or any 
of the so-called shore, marsh or beach birds with 
a swivel or pivot gun or by the use of a torch, 
jack or artificial light, or pursues any wild fowl 
with or by the aid of a boat propelled by steam 
or naphtha, or of a boat or vessel propelled by any 
mechanical means other than sails, oars or pad- 
dles, or in that portion of Boston harbor lying 
westerly and southwesterly of a line running 
from Deer Island to Point Allerton, including the 



86 GAME LAWS. 



waters of Dorchester bay, Quincy bay, Wey- 
mouth bay and Hingham bay, shoots at, kills or 
pursues a wild fowl from or by the aid or use of 
any boat or floating device propelled by steam, 
naphtha, gasoline, electricity, compressed air, 
or any similar motive power, shall be punished 
by a fine of twenty dollars for each offence. The 
constructing or setting of a trap, snare or net 
adapted for the taking or killing of a game bird, 
water fowl, hare or rabbit, upon premises fre- 
quented by them, shall be prima facie evidence 
of such constructing and setting with intent to 
take and kill contrary to law ; and possession of a 
ferret in a place where the game mentioned in this 
section might be taken or killed, shall be prima 
facie evidence that the person having it in posses- 
sion has used it for taking and killing game con- 
trary to law. Ferrets which are used in violation 
of the provisions of this section shall be con- 
fiscated. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1906, CHAP. 278. 

Snaring on own land. 

Section 12. The provisions of the preceding 
section shall not apply to the trapping, other than 
by snare, of hares or rabbits upon his land by an 
owner of land, or by a member of his family if 
authorized by him, between the first day of 
October and the first day of December. 

Shooting, Plymouth bay. 

Section 13. Whoever in Plymouth harbor 
or bay, so-called, including the waters adjacent 
to the towns of Plymouth, Kingston and Dux- 
bury, shoots at, kills or pursues a black duck, 
goose, brant or other aquatic bird by the use of a 
sneak boat, raft, floating box or similar device, 
not an ordinary dory or rowboat, or by the use 
of a pivot gun or swivel gun or any other firearm 
not usually held and discharged from the shoulder 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor 
more than fifty dollars. 



GAME LAWS. 87 



Section 14. Whoever, for the purpose of 
shooting or trapping, enters upon land without 
permission of the owner thereof, after such owner 
has conspicuously posted thereon notice that 
shooting or trapping thereon is prohibited, shall 
be punished by a fine of not more than twenty 
dollars. 

Ownership of game. 

Section 15. Game artificially propagated and 
maintained upon land, upon which notice has 
been posted as provided in the preceding section, 
shall be the exclusive property of the person 
propagating and maintaining it, but if he sells 
such game for food at seasons when its capture 
is prohibited by law, he shall be punished by a 
fine of not more than twenty dollars. 

Acts of 1908, Chap. 477. 
Mongolian, Chinese, English and Golden pheasants. 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful to hunt, 
pursue, take, kill or have in possession, except 
for purposes of propagation, a Mongolian, Chinese, 
Golden or English Pheasant. 

Section 2. Upon application to the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game, written permission 
may be granted by them to a land owner engaged 
in rearing pheasants to shoot pheasants on his 
own premises to a number not exceeding the 
number actually reared to maturity by him in 
the year in which such permission is granted. 

Section 3. Any person violating the provi- 
sions of this act shall be punished by a fine not 
exceeding fifty dollars for each bird or part 
thereof in respect to which the violation occurs. 

Section 4. Section sixteen of chapter ninety- 
two of the Revised Laws, as amended by chapter 
seventy-three of the acts of the year nineteen 
hundred and five, and chapter four hundred and 
eighty-two of the acts of the year nineteen hun- 
dred and six, are hereby repealed. 



GAME LAWS. 



DEER. 

R. L., Chap. 92, Sect. 17, as amended by Acts of 1907, 
Chap. 307, as further amended by Acts of 1908, 
Chap. 377. 

The protection of deer. 

Section 17. Whoever before the first day of 
November in the year nineteen hundred and ten, 
hunts, chases, wounds or kills a deer, or sells or 
offers for sale, or has in his possession for the 
purpose of sale, a deer captured or killed in 
Massachusetts except his own tame deer kept on 
his own grounds, or except a deer killed under 
the provisions hereinafter set forth, shall forfeit 
one hundred dollars for each offence: provided, 
however, that nothing contained herein shall pre- 
vent a farmer or other person, or any member 
of his family or person employed by him acting 
under his direction, from chasing, wounding or 
killing by use of a shotgun, any deer which he 
can prove was found injuring or destroying any 
crop or fruit tree upon the cultivated land owned 
or occupied by him. Any farmer or other person 
killing a deer found injuring or destroying any 
crop or fruit tree, or causing any deer to be killed 
by any member of his family or person employed 
by him as aforesaid shall forfeit the sum of one 
hundred dollars, unless he shall in writing under 
his signature report such killing forthwith to the 
clerk of the city or town in which the deer was 
killed, and shall upon the same day on which said 
deer was killed deliver to the clerk aforesaid the 
carcass of the deer so killed, which shall be sold 
by said clerk and the proceeds of said sale for- 
warded to the commissioners on fisheries and 
game for the uses of the said commissioners. The 
said report shall state the time and place of the 
killing, and the crop or tree which was being in- 
jured or destroyed by the deer, and shall be re- 
corded by the clerk receiving it, who shall there- 
upon forward it to said commissioners. 



GAME LAWS. 89 



AS AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1905, CHAP. 245. 

Protection of deer from dogs. 

Section 18. The owner or keeper of a dog 
found chasing or hunting deer at any time may 
be punished by a fine of not more than twenty 
dollars. Any of the commissioners on fisheries 
and game, or their deputies, or any member of 
the district police, or any officer qualified to serve 
criminal process, may kill a dog found chasing 
or hunting deer at any time if the dog is used for 
such purpose with the knowledge and consent of 
such owner or keeper, and the owner or keeper 
of such dog shall be punished by a fine of fifty 
dollars. If a dog has twice been found chasing or 
hunting deer, and if the owner or keeper of the 
dog has so been notified on each occasion by the 
commissioners on fisheries and game, it shall be a 
presumption of law, if the same dog is thereafter 
found chasing or hunting deer, that such chasing 
or hunting was with the knowledge and consent 
of the said owner or keeper, unless the contrary 
is shown by evidence. 

Acts of 1903, Chap. 407. 
Recovery for damages caused by wild deer. 

Whoever suffers loss by the eating, browsing 
or trampling of his fruit or ornamental trees, 
vegetables, produce or crops by wild deer may, 
if the damage is done in a city, inform the officer 
of police of said city, who shall be designated to 
receive such information by the mayor, and if the 
damage is done in a town, may inform the chair- 
man of the selectmen of the town wherein the 
damage was done, who shall proceed to the prem- 
ises where the damage was done and determine 
whether the same was inflicted by deer, and if so, 
appraise the amount thereof if it does not exceed 
twenty dollars. If, in the opinion of said officer 
of police or chairman, the amount of said damage 
exceeds twenty dollars, he shall appoint two dis- 



90 GAME LAWS. 



interested persons, who, with himself, shall 
appraise under oath the amount thereof. The 
said officer of police or chairman shall return a 
certificate of the damages found, except in the 
county of Suffolk, to the treasurer of the county 
in which the damage is done, within ten days after 
such appraisal is made. The treasurer shall 
thereupon submit the same to the county com- 
missioners, who, within thirty days, shall ex- 
amine all such bills, and if any doubt exists, may 
summon the appraisers and all parties interested 
and make such examination as they may think 
proper, and he shall transmit such bills, properly 
approved, to the auditor of accounts, and they 
shall be paid out of the treasury of the common- 
wealth in the same manner as other claims against 
the commonwealth. In the county of Suffolk 
the certificate of damages shall be returned to 
the treasurer of the city or town in which the 
damage is done, who shall exercise and perform 
the rights and duties hereby conferred and im- 
posed upon the county commissioners in other 
counties. The appraisers shall receive from the 
county, — or in the county of Suffolk, from the 
city or town treasurer — one dollar each for every 
such examination made by them, and the officer 
or the chairman of selectmen acting in the case 
shall receive twenty cents a mile, one way, for his 
necessary travel. 

Authority of commissioners. 

Section 19. The authority of the commis- 
sioners on fisheries and game and of their deputies 
shall extend to the propagation, protection and 
preservation of birds and animals in like manner 
as to fish. 

As AMENDED BY ACTS OF 1907, CHAP. 300. 

Disposal of fines. 

Section 20. (Repealed March 31, 1908; com- 
pare Acts of 1908, chap. 330, p. 65.) 



GAME LAWS. 91 



Game not to be transported out of state. 

Section 21. Whoever at any time takes or 
sends or causes to be taken or transported beyond 
the limits of the commonwealth a woodcock, 
quail or ruffed grouse, which has been taken or 
killed within the commonwealth, or has in pos- 
session such bird or birds with intent to take or 
cause the same to be taken out of the common- 
wealth, shall be punished by a fine of ten dollars 
for every bird so had in possession or taken or 
caused to be taken or sent beyond the limits of 
the commonwealth as aforesaid. 

Acts of 1902, Chap. 236. 

Section 1. Whoever, except as provided in 
section twenty-one of chapter ninety-two of the 
Revised Laws, takes or sends or causes to be 
taken or sent out of the commonwealth any bird 
or animal protected by the provisions of said 
chapter which has illegally been taken or killed 
within the commonwealth; and whoever has in 
possession any such bird or animal with intent 
to take or send the same or to cause the same to 
be taken or sent out of the commonwealth, shall 
be punished by a fine of twenty dollars for every 
bird or animal so had in possession or taken or 
sent beyond the limits of the commonwealth. 

Section 2. Section twenty- two of chapter 
ninety-two of the Revised Laws is hereby re- 
pealed. 

Introduction of foxes or raccoons into Dukes 
county prohibited. 

Section 23. Whoever knowingly introduces 
into the county of Dukes County and liberates 
therein a fox or raccoon shall be punished for 
each offence by a fine of not less than twenty-five 
nor more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment 
for not more than thirty days, or by both such 
fine and imprisonment. The county commis- 



92 GAME LAWS. 



sioners of said county may offer a reward for the 
destruction of hawks, foxes and raccoons, and 
authorize the payment thereof by the county 
upon proper proof of such destruction. 

English sparrows to be killed. 

Section 24. The officers having charge of 
public buildings in cities and such officers as the 
selectmen designate and appoint in towns shall 
take and enforce such reasonable means and use 
such appliances, except poison, as in their judg- 
ment will effectively exterminate the English 
sparrow in such city or town. Whoever wilfully 
resists such officers while engaged in such duties 
or knowingly interferes with the means used by 
them for such purpose so as to render them 
less effective shall be punished by a fine of not 
more than twenty-five dollars for each offence. 
The provisions of this section shall not authorize 
an officer to enter on private property without 
the consent of the owner or occupant thereof. 

Acts of 1903, Chap. 344, 

A bounty for killing a wild cat, Canada lynx or 

loupcervier. 

Section 1. Whoever in any town kills a wild 
cat, Canada lynx or loupcervier not being in 
captivity shall, upon producing satisfactory evi- 
dence of such killing, be entitled to receive from 
the treasurer of the town the sum of five dollars; 
and all sums so paid out shall be repaid to the 
town treasurer by the treasurer of the county 
in which the town is situated: provided, that a 
sworn statement thereof shall be transmitted 
by the town treasurer to the county treasurer. 



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